If I Ever Leave This World Alive
by EnjoytheSilence03
Summary: I had been young and naïve, stupidly self-absorbed. In the cruelest way, life had stripped me of my delusions and abandoned me bleeding, naked with my faults and failings. The lesson was learned, but the price had been too high. Life is sick like that.
1. The End is the Beginning is the End

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**I finally posted! I can't tell you how good it feels to get this monster up; it's been crowding my laptop for at least a year now. Read and Review!!!**

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"_The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."_

_- Harriet Beecher Stowe_

The End is the Beginning is the End

* * *

I had been young and naïve, stupidly self-absorbed, blind and deaf to the one thing I claimed to care about most, to the one thing I claimed to need the most.

In the cruelest way imaginable, life stripped me of my delusions and abandoned me bleeding, naked with my faults and failings.

My eyes had been pried open to my own stark incipience and had not been allowed to close until they burned with salty tears.

It had been suddenly so mournfully clear and beautiful, only then that it was too late.

The lesson was learned, but the price had been too high.

Life is sick like that.

* * *

"_Remorse is the punishment of crime; repentance, its expiation. The former appertains to a tormented conscience; the latter to a soul changed for the better."_

_-Joseph Joubert_


	2. A Whisper and a Clamor

**Here's Chapter 1! Enjoy!**

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**_"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." _

_- T.S Eliot _

A Whisper and a Clamor

* * *

"_Geh heh heh! Excellent work!"_

"_As I thought, you held the keys to the Door of Time!"_

"_You have led me to the gates of the Sacred Realm…"_

"_Yes, I owe it all to you, kid!" _

_

* * *

_Chloe jolted awake, that horrible laughter still ringing in her ears. Realizing her surroundings, she inhaled deeply and let herself fall back onto the soft pillows.

Her heart was still beating uncontrollably. She forced her eyes to close and her muscles to relax.

It was just a dream. Simply a dream, it was nothing to get worked up about.

In the middle of reassuring herself back to sleep, she heard voices.

Her eyes snapped back open.

She sat perfectly still for a few long moments, trying to determine whether the noises she heard were merely echoes of her dream or actually coming from somewhere down the hallway.

"Hey, Alexis," she began, twisting over the edge and peering at the bed below her own, pausing when she found it empty.

She rolled her eyes.

No one could ruin a bed quite like Alexis. With covers and pillows crumpled and twisted beyond recognition, it appeared as though someone had had a violent seizure in their sleep.

Exposing her legs to the attack of the cold air, Chloe stumbled her way clumsily down the ladder. Her knee collided heavily with the floor when she completely missed the last rung. She glared at the ladder, shaken and flustered.

The loud shuffling of her now bunny-slipper-clad feet dragging into the hallway was drowned out by the even louder voices, coming from down the hall.

"_This is absurd! How can there be no more available flights? Don't you understand? She needs to be home today! How could you be so heartless?"_

"Who the hell is up at," she paused, glancing at her watch, "three thirty in the freaking morning?"

She continued on, hand on the wall, feeling her way down to the kitchen and living room.

"_That's it! I want to speak to your manager!" _

Chloe winced. Oh, that was definitely her mother.

"_What do you mean he's not reachable? I want him on the phone! Now!" _

Chloe popped her head into the kitchen to find her mom ranting on the phone, gesticulating wildly with a wooden spoon.

Hastily ducking out, she wandered on in search of her father.

"Yes, yes, I'll hold," a groggy voice sighed.

Chloe found her dad seated in front of a bright computer screen. Its white glow emphasized the dark circles under his eyes.

The hand not supporting his head was clasped tightly around the handle of a large mug. Knowing her father, it was probably some South American ground coffee, served "black."

Chloe winced, just imagining the taste.

For the life of her, she could never understand how anyone could drink something so bitter.

Continuing blindly into the living room, the brunette bumped into the coffee table, stubbing her toe.

"Dammit!" she exclaimed, plopping down gracelessly and cradling her injured foot. "Who's freakin' idea was it to put a table there! Right in everyone's damn way! Stupid table …"

After the appropriate treatment, Chloe released her foot and became aware of the pair of eyes staring down at her.

"Hey, Dad what's u-".

"Julia!" her dad called.

"What is it, Robert? I'm on the phon-" her mother began, but cut short once her eyes fell upon the teen still seated on the floor. "Chloe! You're up!"

Said daughter glanced quizzically between her parents.

"Mom? Dad? What's going on? Why is everyone up? Is my watch broken? Who are you talking to? And where is Alexis?" she rambled.

Her parents exchanged one of those annoying, knowing glances that only parental units seem to be able to interpret. Chloe huffily crossed her arms and legs and fixed an expectant glare on her face.

Another annoying exchange of looks followed.

"Will you please just tell me what's happening?" she cried.

Her mother was the first to step forward and explain. "Well, honey, there was an accident and-"

"Is Alexis okay!" Chloe interrupted immediately.

"Yes, of course, dear. Nothing has happened to her. It's just that there was a car accident involving her father and sister…" Mrs. Taylor elaborated.

Ten minutes later, Chloe found Alexis in the game room.

She sat, gazing intently at the TV, a mug of what of Chloe assumed to be tea clutched in her hand.

Chloe noticed with a little jealously that even curled up in the massive arm-chair, cocooned by fuzzy blankets and pillows, Alexis still managed to look regal and intimidating. If it were her in that chair, she knew she could have easily been mistaken for an infant.

"Hey…" Chloe voiced uncertainly.

The other girl's eyes drifted lazily from the glowing screen.

"Hey," she replied flatly, eyes flickering back and to continue their unblinking stare at the television.

"So…" Chloe began uncomfortably, "are you upset?"

Chloe hated this palpable awkwardness.

They were _best friends,_ for god's sake! Nothing between them should be awkward. She wouldn't have to comfort her, though, would she? How does one comfort someone, anyway? Better yet, how does one comfort Alexis? Ideas evaded her. She mentally shrugged; in her defense, she honestly had never had to do it before.

At the same time, the fear of what this might change weighed heavily on her mind. Alexis had been her best friend, her constant; she needed her. She simply could not change.

At this point, Chloe wanted more than anything for this whole event to be left in the past and promptly forgotten.

"Eh, not particularly." The other girl's gaze did not move as she shrugged unfazed.

"Is that… normal?" Chloe tried again.

Her question was left unanswered.

"I'm watching _Boy Meets World. _ It's the Halloween one, where they get trapped in the school. It's always been my favorite. It's a shame re-runs of these shows only play at the most ungodly hours."

Chloe allowed her eyes to shift to the TV screen, and, sure enough, there was that little, curly-haired, awkward teen and company, running around screaming like little girls.

Letting out a relieved sigh, she let herself sink into a nearby recliner.

There was nothing wrong. Alexis was not upset at all. Everything would continue on as normal.

Nothing would change.

* * *

"Link…" His eyes wouldn't open.

"Wake up Link..." Everything was white. Why was it white?

"Link, the chosen one…" Where was he?

The white clouding his vision began to lift, and he found himself standing in what appeared to be a room. Wait, no, that wasn't right. He seemed to be standing in the center of a blue vortex, light swirling all around him.

"Link," a voice called his attention to the right. There standing before him was an elderly man clad in shades of yellow and brown. Link noted that a soft golden light seemed to cocoon the man.

"Hero, I apologize for your inevitable confusion, but I beset you to hear me out. I am Rauru, one of the ancient Sages. Ages ago, we Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the entrance to the Sacred Realm.

"This is the Chamber of Sages, inside the Temple of Light. The Temple of Light, situated in the very center of the Sacred Realm, is the last stronghold against Ganondorf's evil forces.

"The Master Sword—the evil-destroying sword that you, Hero, pulled out of the Pedestal of Time—was the final key to the Sacred Realm.

"Link, don't be alarmed, look at yourself!" Rauru exclaimed. Link looked down and lurched at the sight. The ground seemed so much farther away. Navi, however, was having no problem ogling at his transformation.

"Look, Link! You're big now! You've grown up!" she cried, excitedly dancing around his changed body. He hesitantly flexed his newly developed muscles.

Warmth washed over him.

It felt right.

"The Master Sword is a sacred blade which evil ones may never touch. Only one worthy of the title of 'Hero of Time' can pull it from the Pedestal of Time. However, you were too young to be the Hero of Time.

"I apologize, but I had no choice but to seal your spirit here for seven years. And now that you are old enough the time has come for you to awaken as the Hero of Time!

"But, remember, though you opened the Door of Time in the name of peace, Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves, used it to enter this forbidden Sacred Realm!

"He obtained the Triforce from the Temple of Light, and, with its power, he brought an era of tyranny upon the land and its people. His evil power radiated from the temples of Hyrule, and, in seven short years, it transformed Hyrule into a world of monsters.

"My power now has only little influence, even in this Sacred Realm, namely, this Chamber of Sages. But there is still hope. The power of the Sages remains. When the power of all the Sages is awakened, the Sages' Seals will contain all the evil power in the void of the Realm.

"I, Rauru, am one of these Sages, and your power to fight together with the Sages makes you the Hero of Time! The Hero of Time, chosen by the Master Sword! Keep my spirit with you and find the power of the other Sages, and add their might to your own!"

Link was suddenly aware of a golden medallion, falling out of the swirling vortex above them. It landed lightly in his outstretched hand. He stared at it intently, studying the way the blue light flicked across its insignia.

His vision began to blur. Alarmed, he looked to Rauru, who sent him a reassuring nod. He was rapidly being overtaken by an intense white light. It surged over his consciousness.

"Hero! Find the other Sages, and save Hyrule!" the ancient Sage cried out as the young man faded from his sight.

* * *

"It's for you, honey. It's your brother." Chloe's mother smiled warmly as she passed the phone over.

Alexis narrowed her eyes at the phone, holding it as if it was the most repulsive thing she had ever touched.

"Honey? He's waiting." Chloe's mom reminded, snapping the teen out of her angry thoughts. She finally brought the phone to her ear.

"Alexis?"

"Present."

"It's me, Will. Mrs. Taylor told me that your flight's going to be leaving tonight at eleven."

"Right."

"That means you have to arrive at the airport at what time?"

"Ten."

"Which means you leave the house when?"

"Nine."

"Great, glad we have that all figured out. Well then…" His voice faded off, as silence overtook the phone.

Seconds ticked away.

"Well, nothing's really changed much on this end."

Alexis made a small noise of acknowledgment to the statement.

"Well, I did just talk to the doctor about Isabella's condition, and he said she hasn't shown any signs of waking up, though he assured me that she hasn't reached the 'deep' coma stage. He told me she should be conscious by the time you arrive."

She made another small noise of response.

A pregnant pause followed.

As it became obvious that he was not going to make any further initiative, she revived the conversation.

"…and Dad?" Alexis inquired in a hushed voice.

"He's… well he-he's still… he's still in critical condition…"

"Oh… okay then…" she paused, "Um, I guess I'll just see you at the airport then…"

"You'll have to get a taxi. My friend Nick has to borrow my car; I'll see you at the hospital." He corrected, almost hurriedly.

It seemed the faster the conversation ended, the better.

"Cool…"

"Well, then, have a safe flight home," he hesitated before adding, "Love you."

"Ditto."

Will let his head fall back heavily against the white sterile wall, as he flipped his cell phone shut.

"You lied to her!" a voice accused from his left.

"I know," he sighed.

"You shouldn't have, she has the right to know," Nick voiced from his position on the wall opposite his friend.

"Well, what did you want me to do? Tell her and let her spend a four hour plane trip suffering alone?" He countered, his blue eyes glaring angrily at him.

Nick shifted his gaze; he couldn't remember ever seeing his friend so riled up, but it was hardly surprising given the circumstances.

"It still doesn't feel right to me. And it's not going to earn you any more brownie points. Here I thought you were actually trying to get on her good side."

"I'm not keeping anything from her. She'll find out when she gets here, where she can actually be comforted, and where I can make sure she doesn't do something stupid."

"From what you told me, she doesn't seem like the type of kid to pull something like that."

"Well, I'm not really in the mood for taking risks, are you?" Will replied icily.

Nick averted his eyes, again.

Family issues were always so complicated.

"How'd she sound?" he asked, hesitantly, after a few beats of silence.

"Completely indifferent. Even now, she'd still rather cut off a limb before admitting that something is actually bothering her," he answered, exasperated, pacing back and forth down the small stretch of hallway.

"I suppose it's just her way of coping. You shouldn't get too upset over it."

"I know that, it's just," he let out a frustrated noise, "it's just that it makes it so much harder to try and comfort her, when she doesn't even seem likes she cares."

"You, yourself, told me she pulled the same thing when-"

"Well, it's different now and you know it! And, right now, you are the last person I need to be patronizing me!" His shout echoed down the long corridor.

With a defeated sigh, Will let himself fall back against the wall and slowly slide down, head in hands.

His best friend simply stared down at him.

Nick couldn't remember ever seeing his roommate so shaken. He had always been the epitome of 'calm and collected'.

"What am I going to do, Nick? I'm not ready for this kind of responsibility…"

His friend collapsed next to him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"You'll figure something out. Don't worry."

* * *

"Link… we're back in the Temple of Time… but have seven years really passed?" Navi floated anxiously about his head, as Link paused.

"C'mon Link! Let's get out of here!" Navi cried.

Suddenly, Link became aware of a presence behind him, shocking him into motion.

In one fluid movement the hero turned on his heel and drew his sword, its tip resting centimeters from the new comer's neck.

"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time…" he stated calmly, without so much of a flinch, his crimson eyes burning unwaveringly into Link's own.

Link had to restrain himself from flinching at their intensity.

* * *

"Mom, stop worrying! We'll be fine! We're not toddlers!" Chloe complained loudly. "Just calm down!"

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady! I have every right to be worried! I feel absolutely horrible about not being able to take Alexis to the airport, and now the weathers taking a turn for the worst! And I'm forced to leave you with a sick child! So, no, I will not just 'calm down!'" Mrs. Taylor countered angrily.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

So much for a nice relaxing Christmas vacation in Colorado filled with snowflakes and snow-boarding. She knew she should have just stayed home and burned in the heat of Houston with her sister.

"Mom, chill!" she cried, hands waving about. "Look, Alexis understands that if you could, you would, and I've driven that route a million and one times, and no little snowflakes are really going to make a difference, and Cameron has been pumped with so many drugs that he's practically a walking Tylenol!

"See, everything's under control! Don't worry!"

Mrs. Taylor gave Chloe a long, hard look before moving her stare to Alexis.

"Are you sure you have everything?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you've talked to your brother and made arrangements for your pickup?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you printed out your boarding pass?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, then, I suppose this is goodbye. Don't worry about them too much on your flight home. They're not the type of people to let this do them in! All you need to worry about is how much food you will have to smuggle in for them while they are stuck in the hospital!"

Chloe's mom bent down and gave the girl a hug.

Alexis still couldn't understand how Chloe had turned out to be so short. Her mother and father had to be both well over the 5'10" mark.

Though, she knew better than to ever mention this fact in front of Chloe. All comments or mentions of the odd difference, no matter how innocent, ended with numerous obscenities and Chloe declaring each time that the true blame lay on the tiny shoulders of her mere 5'1" paternal grandmother.

"Thank you, Mrs. Taylor," Alexis replied with a forced smile.

The mother simply gave her one last rub on the back before trotting off down the corridor to check on Chloe's sick cousin one final time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor set down the luggage he was carrying in order to give Alexis' shoulder a firm squeeze.

"Your father and sister are both strong people. They will be fine. Don't worry."

Mr. Taylor had always been a man of few words.

"Thank you, sir."

Giving her shoulder one last pat, he continued out the door, hauling assorted pieces of luggage.

* * *

"When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to be Sages, who dwell in the five temples," the man began, voice unnervingly monotone.

"One in a deep forest… one on a high mountain… one under a vast lake… one within the house of the dead… one inside a goddess of the sand…

"Together with the Hero of Time, the Awakened Ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world…"

Link's grip on his sword slackened.

A shiver crept up his spine.

"This is the legend of the temples, passed down by my people, the Sheikah." He continued on, eyes still boring into the hero.

Link felt naked and exposed before those red orbs. It was as if they could see everything: every fear, every hesitation, every doubt, every weakness, and every flaw.

"I am Sheik. Survivor of the Sheikahs…" He paused, giving the young man a once-over.

"As I see you standing there, holding the mythical Master Sword, you really do look like the legendary Hero of Time…"

Link's eyes narrowed at the skeptical note in Sheik's voice, and the Sheikah paused to return the glare.

Tension cracked between them. Link tensed his body and spread his legs apart, settling into a more intimidating stance. He gave the guy a quick one-over. He didn't look so tough. He could take this guy, easily.

And just like that then tension was broken.

Link blinked stunned, as he was suddenly left staring bewildered at a large painted eye. Stretching over the Sheikah's back, the symbol sent shivers up his spine with its large, all-seeing crimson eye and tear.

"If you believe the legend, you have no choice. You must look for the five temples and awaken the Five Sages…" Sheik continued, voice once again emotionless.

"One Sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the Forest Temple. The Sage is a girl that I am sure you know…" he said, glancing back momentarily to watch as Link's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Saria…" he breathed.

"Because of the evil power in the temple," he explained, "she cannot hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm…" He turned away and began walking towards the center stone, which had once cradled the legendary Master Sword.

"Unfortunately, equipped as you currently are, you cannot even enter the temple…"

Link's eyes burned holes into his back.

"But, if you believe what I'm saying, you should head to Kakariko Village…" he finished.

With a rough jerk, Sheik threw something to the ground, its bright flash momentarily blinding Link.

The hero removed his hands from his eyes only to find empty air where the young man had previously stood.

"That was certainly different…" Navi voiced from above his head.

Blinking a few more times, Link turned and stomped towards the large, wooden doors at the far end of the chamber. He wanted to get out of the cold, dark temple and breathe in some nice, clean fresh air and feel the sunlight upon his skin again.

His muscles felt unused, awkward; he couldn't even look down at the ground without getting slightly nauseous over the sudden height change. He tried desperately not to think of it, though, resolving to simply take everything in stride.

"So, are we going to follow his advice? I think we should, he seemed to know what he was talking about," Navi rambled, flying wildly around him.

She must have been feeling the side effects of being cooped up for seven years, as well.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check it out…" he commented lightly, protecting his slightly bruised ego, as he pushed open the heavy oaken doors and stepped outside.

And in a single _whoosh_ his entire world collapse around him, the shattered pieces cutting and slashing him, leaving wounds no medicine could heal.

* * *

"Alexis! It's 8:50! Can you go wake Cameron up and get him all strapped into the car? Thanks, you're the best!" Chloe screamed down at her friend before vanishing back up the stairs.

How was it that she always ended up stuck having to deal with Chloe's little cousin?

Honestly, she disliked kids.

For one, they made her incredibly nervous and awkward. She never really understood how to treat them. Were you supposed to baby them? No, then they get angry that you're treating them like a baby.

Were you supposed to talk to them like they're equals? No, because then they get it in their tiny little heads that they somehow no longer have to listen to anything you tell them.

And they were always so loud and unpredictable; she could never tell if what she was doing was right or not. Already a headache was forming.

However, she could sympathize with the little guy; being the youngest was not all it was cracked up to be. She would try to be a little extra nice to him sometimes to balance out Chloe's blatant dislike for him. Well, not dislike for _him,_ per se, but rather the responsibility of babysitting that came along with his existence.

While lost in thought, Alexis had wandered through a decent handful of rooms searching for the kid. She finally found him sprawled across the floor sound asleep in front of the small room's TV with a video game controller clutched in his hand.

Rolling her eyes, she flicked off the TV and pried the controller from his little hands, putting it away before turning back to the task at hand.

She stared uncertainly down at the boy.

Inching forward, she began prodding him with her foot.

"Cameron. Come on, Cameron. Time to wake up," she began, though the sleeping boy simply turned over and ignored her.

"Come on, Cameron. We've got to get moving. I've got a plane to catch in about two hours."

Her prodding got a little rougher.

"Cameron, now."

She pushed hard enough to flip him over onto his back. This seemed to finally do the trick.

Alexis looked on satisfied as the boy's blue eyes began to crack open.

"Great. Now that you're up we can go."

She started into the hallway, only to pause when she didn't hear any following footsteps.

Turning back, she found Cameron still on the ground bent over holding his stomach with one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

"What's up Cameron?" she inquired, as doubled back into the room and knelt down beside him.

"I don't feel so good. My stomach hur-" Cameron's slurred words were caught in his throat, as his dinner made an unexpected encore.

All over Alexis.

* * *

It felt as if the ground had literally been pulled from under him and all his organs had simultaneously decided to rearrange themselves.

This was all so wrong, so very, _very _wrong.

The market place, the castle, the people… where were all the people? How could this happen? How could this have been allowed to happen?

He fell to his knees, overwhelmed.

He should have been there! He should have stopped this!

The twisted dark parody of the once energetic and dazzling town made him want to vomit. The deprecated and rotting houses, the masses of undead lumbering around, the sinister and malevolent castle casting its oppressive shadow… it was all so wrong!

Was it over? Was he too late? Just like that, Ganondorf had won and all of Hyrule had been transformed in his evil likeness? What was the point in all of this if the battle was already lost?

His fingers dug painfully into the earth.

It wasn't going to end like this. Ganondorf would be defeated. The world he knew seven years ago would be restored.

He would not fail again.

Quickly springing into action, he ripped out his sword and poured out his rage and frustration on the countless Redead roaming the area.

* * *

"Cameron, I cannot believe this! Do you know what time it is! We have to be at the airport in thirty minutes! This is all your fault!" Chloe screamed from the front seat.

Cameron winced at her attack. He was glad that she was driving and not able to see the faces he was making behind her back.

"And, of course, you just _had_ to bring that stupid little game with you. You can be such a little baby," she digressed.

Cameron clutched the small gray square wrapped in his arms closer.

That showed how much she knew. It wasn't just a _stupid_ _little _game; it was the _best_ game in the _world_! He made another face at the back of her seat.

"And stop that! I can see you in the mirror!" she shouted.

Cameron turned towards the window with a small huff and began pouting, clutching the small square object to his chest.

Before turning back to the road, Chloe made sure to let her glare rest a little longer on his small figure reflected in the rear-view mirror.

Rolling her eyes, Alexis turned away from the arguing cousins to look out at the white winter wonderland speeding by outside.

The night had fallen quickly, giving the landscape a forbidden and dark look. The green of the surrounding forest had been completely submerged beneath the rapidly falling snow.

"Cameron! Stop it!" Chloe yelled, shattering the shortly reigning silence.

She glared venomously through the mirror at her little cousin, who stubbornly ignored her and continued gazing out the window. Chloe once again turned her eyes back to the road.

The soft sounds of some latest pop hit on the radio were amplified by the silence of the car.

Alexis returned her musings.

The small highway they drove on wound them around the surrounding mountains. Noticing the quickly disappearing road, she reminded herself that Chloe had traveled this road so many times that she was sure her friend could navigate it blindfolded. However, the steadily increasing snowfall was beginning to concern her. The feeling of being trapped in a roughly shaken snow globe settled upon her.

A spark of panic ignited in her stomach.

"Cameron! I told you to stop it!" Chloe abruptly exclaimed.

"What!" he whined back.

"Don't 'what' me! I told you to stop kicking my seat!" she shouted, switching from simply glaring into the rear-view mirror to twisting herself around to glare at the small boy face on.

"I wasn't kicking your seat!" he exclaimed.

"Don't lie! You're the only one in the back seat!"

"Chloe."

"I am not! And I didn't touch your seat! I swear!"

"You're such a little liar!"

"Chloe!"

"I'm not a liar!"

"CHLOE!" Alexis yelled, springing into action.

She pounced on the steering wheel, yanking it with the curve of the icy road.

It was too late.

The wheels skidded violently atop the ice. The car spun roughly towards the side of the road.

Alexis had experienced this feeling before. It was on some amusement park ride that Chloe had dragged her on. She remembered it being named _Evolution_, though she could never figure out why, unless forcing her to undergo newly evolved and more intense waves of nausea counted.

She was experiencing the same helpless and queasy feeling all over again paired with the same rough jerking of her body, both of which made her feel like an unwanted rag doll.

With a final spin the car plunged hood first into a towering snow bank.

They slammed forward in their seats. White flooded the windshield.

Then, everything was black.


	3. Prayer of the Refugee

**Disclaimer: All characters and names that are familiar have been stolen from the Zelda series and are not a result of my own pitiful imagination. Anything unfamiliar is more than likely my own creations.**

**Read, enjoy, and review! **

**

* * *

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_"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,_

_But I have promises to keep,_

_And miles to go before I sleep._

_ And miles to go before I sleep."_

_-Robert Frost  
_

Prayer of the Refugee

* * *

_Scalding heat._

_**Stop**__. _

_Hungry flames._

_**Stop! **_

_The smell of burning flesh._

_**STOP!**_

_Consciousness eluded her. The searing pain washed over her body in waves. In its traumatized state, her mind reached out and clutched onto the burning agony. She knew nothing but the fire that engulfed her body. _

_The pain… it needed to stop. __**Now**__. _

_She twisted blindly, moaning. Her hands moved on their own volition to her back and began clawing furiously. _

_Destroy the source. _

_Destroy it and the pain will end. _

_It will __**end**__._

_**That's all that matters!**_

_**

* * *

**_

Brown eyes snapped open.

Her hands immediately flew to her back. She let out a relieved sigh upon feeling the soft material of her shirt. It wasn't real. It was simply a dream… well, it was more like a nightmare. Her back was completely untouched and, most importantly, burn free.

The realization of this important truth freed Alexis' mind to wander to more critical things, such where the hell was she?

All at once, she became glaringly aware of the cold bite of snow beneath her and the sharp throbbing sensation stemming from her skull. She subconsciously decided that the latter insight took precedent over the former.

Sitting up had at seemed like a great idea, until she attempted it. Apparently her head did not take too kindly to the shifting pressure of gravity, for as soon as she was situated on her bottom, she lurched forward overwhelmed by the pain. Tears began pooling in her eyes.

"Ow," she whimpered pitifully.

Blinking away her blurry vision, she forced herself to focus on something, anything, in order to distract herself from the pain. The well placed pebble near her leg was received with tears of joy. Well, she decided, they would have been joy if it were not for the fact her skull was cracking in two. Attempting to clear her thoughts, she urged herself to concentrate.

_Pebble…_

_Smooth pebble..._

_Pretty pebble…_

_Pebble…_

She began to smile as she believed that she felt the pain begin to lessen. This only drove her to double her intense focus upon the little rock. She distantly noted that her contact lens was becoming hard with her ceaseless gaze, though the discomfort was immediately shoved to the back of her mind.

Slowly, after what felt like hours, the throbbing faded to what seemed like a dull ache in comparison. She affectionately reached out for the small pebble, cradling it in her palm.

"Thank you, Mr. Pebble," she whispered hoarsely.

Feeling its chill seep slowly into her skin, she continued staring down at it, as if expecting a response.

It was only when a large breeze pulled at her hair and tore through her clothes, seemingly to her very bones, that she was finally able to snap out of the staring contest she had begun and become aware of her surroundings.

She found herself in the center of a small snow covered clearing. Around her, a whole forest lay asleep under the packed flakes. Glancing upward past the high peaks of the trees, she found thick clouds blanketing the sky. A large mountain peak rose up to clash against the gray heavens.

It was scenery such as this that made her treasure trips to Colorado, she mused lightly; however, that thought triggered the opening of a flood gate.

Everything rushed back. The phone call, the accident_, Boy Meets World_, the rushed packing, the vomit, the car ride, the snow bank… it all flashed before her eyes.

The snow bank!

"Where is the car?" She looked around in panic.

This wasn't right! Where was the snow bank? How was she outside the car?

She had not flown through the windshield, had she? No, no, she had been wearing her seat belt. Could the seat belt have broken? No, Ford would have been sued a long time ago if it had had defective seat belts. Maybe the windshield had shattered and a piece of glass hit the seat belt just right and-

Wait, why was she even contemplating this?

Where was the car?

She swiveled around. Trees towered over her in every direction.

Where was the road?

Her breath shortened. This wasn't happening. It simply wasn't. Panic began to set in. This was simply another bad dream. Right, she was still dreaming. She was probably lying in some white hospital bed in a perfectly sterilized hospital room in a scratchy white hospital gown.

She could have slapped herself.

Panicking never solved anything.

Forcing her eyes closed, she inhaled deeply until she felt the mental alarm diminish fully. She needed a clear head to figure this out. She began to carefully turn over the facts in her head.

They had been in a car accident. They had plunged into a snow bank. She now was no longer in the car. She was not in the snow bank. She could not see the road. She was in the middle of a forest. She was on a mountain. She was surrounded by snow. She was not dressed for snow.

She glanced accusingly down at her jeans and long-sleeved tee shirt, as if it was her outfit's fault that she was in this mess. Why couldn't she have picked something warmer for the plane? Perhaps a pair of ski boots instead of her flimsy tennis shoes?

"Maybe", she announced bitterly, "because I didn't expect to get trapped on a stupid mountain in the middle of nowhere and have to trek through countless feet of snow to find my way back!"

It was not until she felt a stinging sensation that she realized that she had been tightening her fists to the point that the small pebble began digging into the skin.

"What do we do now, Mr. Pebble?" she asked, despairingly.

She was going absolutely mad. Shaking her head again, Alexis unsteadily brought herself to her feet. The stillness of the surrounding forest unnerved her, and she caught herself before she instinctively cowered away from it. However, she quickly discovered the problem with her new idea; walking in knee deep snow in tennis shoes was not as easy as she had believed.

The cold frost seeped easily through her now-soaking jeans and converse. Her feet were already beyond feeling; however, her legs still felt the sting of the snow. The crisp air bypassed her thin shirt and cut directly into her skin. Her hands were attempting to thaw under her armpits. The teen suddenly paused, glancing about the clearing indecisively.

"Good idea," she spoke, her words becoming mist in the mountain air, "straight forward seems like the best choice to me too."

* * *

She felt as if she had been walking for ages. Her body was exhausted, and her head throbbed painfully.

She supposed, though, she should at least try to be a little more positive. It wasn't like she was lost in the middle of a forest on some random mountain in the middle of nowhere with no hint of civilization for miles.

Cue panicking.

The only thing she was really aware of was the biting pain in many parts of her body, but that was not what was really worrying her. What really made her start to panic were the parts of her body she could not feel anymore. She didn't want to get frostbite and have to get toes and stuff amputated. She loved her toes, and her fingers. Fingers were very important.

Abruptly, a metal clang erupted from somewhere beneath her foot, and she felt the ghost of a touch on her leg. Startled, she began digging into the snow surrounding her leg, desperate for some sort of sign of human presence out there.

Her mind was clearly not working correctly for she did not even pause when the snow she was now digging out was stained red. She finally hesitated when she was able to get a clear view at the bottom of her jeans.

What looked like some sort of animal trap had dug its deadly, razor jaws into the bottom of her calf. Blood freely flowed around the wound, soaking her jeans.

She knew she should be bothered by this, at least mildly upset. Life had just kicked her when she was down. Not only was she stuck in the middle of no-where in below freezing weather, she now had a eight sharp knives digging into her leg, causing her to lose blood at a rate that would probably leave her close to death in a little over an hour.

She also was conscious to the fact she should been in extraordinary pain. The sight of the white of her bone through the incisions caused her stomach to turn uncomfortably, or perhaps it was the reeking smell of blood that had permeated the air, which was equally wonderful. She could now be eaten by some passing bear or wolf instead of slowly bleeding or freezing to death.

If she was given a choice in the matter, she would rather be eaten by some animal, at least then her death had benefited someone. Though, she mused, this could only happen after she had passed out of course. She'd sooner kill herself than be eaten _alive_.

These morbid thoughts danced about her head, as she made an effort to continue moving. However her foot seemed to no longer be responding to her commands, so when she shifted forward, she merely collapsed in a heap on the snow.

She fleetingly wondered when it had begun snowing again. The physical exhaustion of her body prevented her mind from grasping the passage of time. It could have been minutes or hours for all she knew.

She somehow managed to drag herself over by a fallen trunk of a tree, a crude shelter against the harsh and biting wind and snow. She looked backed lazily, to see a shockingly bright trail of red following her path. Well, she noted cynically, even if she did die, someone was sure to find her now.

She had been fighting sleep for what seemed like years, but here, under this tree, she finally lost. Her eyes slid closed, and the world around her was gone.

* * *

After an unknown amount of time, something she could not identify dragged her back into consciousness. Her mind felt blank, unable to process anything. The noises around her, the feeling of something soft against her skin were all incomprehensible. She felt like there was some sort of fog separating her from the world around her.

Control of her body seemed impossible. It was as if somehow her body was moving forward and she had been left behind, separated.

Then, her eyes were open. She could not recall opening them nor could she determine how long they had been open. All of a sudden she was just aware of colors.

There was white, lots and lots of white. Then the white was smothered by brown. She felt she was drowning in this sea of brown. There was flashes of red too, and then shots of green. They were warm, though strikingly foreign.

Her mind suddenly went on overload. It was if she had just been submerged in a pool of icy cold water. She could feel herself struggling to breathe against the onslaught.

Everything was dark again. She knew nothing but absolute panic. Was this how she was going to die? Was this the end?

The cold darkness was unbearable. She felt herself slipping deeper and deeper in the frosty water.

Suddenly, she was sucking in air again, and encompassed in warmth.

She felt like crying; she had never felt so relieved. She clung to this warmth with all of her being. It was her life-vest in this sea of ice, and she'd be damned if she let go of it.

* * *

The passage of time was completely lost to her.

At random intervals she was aware of dark shapes surrounding her and muffled noises. Occasionally she could feel warmth filling her and refreshingly cool caresses, but nothing more. Her mind always seemed just a step too slow to grasp its surroundings before it was whisked back into a state of nothingness.

Then suddenly, she awoke.

Looking around the dimly lit room, nothing was familiar. The bed she lay in was old and wooden, and the blankets scratchy. She could not see much farther than that for her contact was dry and blurry. She wondered vaguely if she still had those eye drops in her back pocket.

Rubbing her eyes frantically, panic began to set in.

Where was she? Why was she here? Where was she even supposed to be?

Nothing was making much sense to her muddled mind.

One thing was for certain though: she knew she wasn't supposed to be _here. _

Why were her legs and arms not moving? Were they tied down? No, no they're not. Was she paralyzed then? Paraplegic? She didn't want to have to use a wheelchair.

Here she slammed the brakes on her thought process. Panicking never solved anything. All problems must be processed by a calm and clear mind.

However, all of this shattered the moment the door opened.

The notion that she had not even noticed its presence in the far left corner of the room drifted through the back of her mind.

But all of her attention soon zeroed in on the figure, who was casually closing the door behind him and juggling a tray in his hands, completely oblivious to her current state of consciousness.

However, when he turned, his electric green eyes immediately locked with her dark brown ones.

Time seemed to freeze.

Neither blinked nor breathed; both pairs of eyes wide in shock and surprise.

Suddenly, time jump started, and many things happened all at once in a flurry of motion.

The girl hurled herself off the bed in a swirl of blankets and pillows. She had planned to stand, but her body betrayed her at last minute, so she went hurtling towards the wooden floor, crashing with a loud thump in a disgruntled lump of limbs and fabric.

The boy had reached forward upon seeing her flying off the bed, but ended tripping over his own feet in the process. The tray of food clattered onto the floor.

He jumped back awkwardly in an attempt to dodge the flying shards of glass, but merely ended up falling backwards and banging his head against the door. Letting out a groan, he slid slowly down the wood into a crunched position, cradling his head in pain.

At the same time, a loud groan sounded from the other side of the bed.

After he felt he had fully indulged in enough self-pity, he dragged himself to his feet, passing a remorseful glance at the wasted food. Forcing himself to unglue his eyes from the mess, he shifted them to the previously occupied bed. He cocked an eyebrow at its now absolutely bare state.

How she had managed to drag everything off down to the under sheets and last pillow was beyond him. He let out a light chuckle, while carefully making his way over and peaking around the edge of the bed.

He thought he would have to literally smother himself to quiet his laughter.

This finally caught the attention of the disgruntled blonde. Miraculously pulling her head from the web of fabric, she caught sight of the boy.

"Well, yer 'av really gotten yerself in quite a mess, aye lassie?" he forced out from behind his hands. The sound of his voice startled her into action.

He blinked unbelieving at the now vacant square of floor. What had his ma been feeding this girl?

He got down on his hands and knees and peered under the bed. Two brown orbs bore heatedly back at him from the tangle of blankets. He chuckled nervously under their intensity.

"Well, yer sure are active for a person who just woke up from a three-day nap," he said, grinning widely.

The only response he received was an inquisitive blink of the eyes. The boy shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor; he had a feeling he would be there for awhile.

"Well, oi am a pretty patient lad lassie, so oi don't mind a bit sittin' 'ere on de floor all day, though oi afraid me neck might develop a terrible knot," he proclaimed with an even wider grin, head pressed flat to the ground. The only response he got was a further retreat into the shadows.

"Yer gave us al' quite a scare, yer know," he began. "Showin' up like dat in de forest bloodied up, frozen, and practically 'alf-dead. Me ma' nearly 'ad a 'eart attack over seein' your blue lips an' skin. But don't yer worry, yer couldn't 'av been in better 'ands. Me ma' is a right expert at nursin' people back ter 'ealth after raisin' five lads." He rambled a bit, grinning at her.

"Ah, oi almost forgot! Me names Kafei, but most just call me Fei." He reached out a hand under the bed, smiling reassuringly.

She suspiciously scrutinized his face. The boy had sparkling green eyes complemented by bright flaming red hair that spilled messily over his forehead. His nose and most of his face were sprinkled with freckles that would forever ensure that he would never out grow his boyish looks.

Though something about him radiated kindness and inspired trust. Alexis found she had to literally fight to keep herself alert and remotely suspicious.

"Alexis," she whispered hoarsely, but did not reach for his hand.

Kafei repeated the name a few times, immediately liking its foreign sound. He grinned back satisfied after he had decided that he had mastered the word, though his outstretched hand never wavered. She noted vaguely that he pronounced it with a slight accent, despite it being a rather commonplace name. Back at school, there had been at least six other Alexis's in her grade alone.

"Well, Alexis," he began, "I imagine bein' stuffed under dis cramped little ol' excuse for a bed is probably less than 'ealthy for a 'ardly recovered patient. How about we start den with gettin' you out from under it an' back on it, aye?" He nudged his hand a little farther forward, reaching out for her.

Her eyes flickered down to warily stare at the outstretched appendage, as if it would bite her. Even in the dim lighting she could tell it was extremely calloused. She assumed he must do some kind of serious manual labor daily in order for it to get that way, what, though, she couldn't imagine.

She also noted how large it was. It could easily swallow hers, though she had always considered her own a little larger than normal.

Realizing she was getting far too side-tracked in pointless ponderings, she mentally slapped herself back to reality. She struggled a bit to reach out to him.

"What's de matter?" he asked, looking on concernedly at the sporadic jerks of her body.

"Um…," she stammered, face flushing red. "I'm stuck…"

"What?" he asked.

"The blankets! I'm," she cried, frantically wiggling, "I'm stuck!"

Fei never thought he would laugh so hard again.

"Its-not-funny!" she cried out, jerking her body, trying to weaken the blankets restraints.

"'ere, 'ere, let me 'elp yer before yer smother yerself," he said, grinning humorously, ducking under the bed.

The moment he had a hold on one of the blankets the door flew open with a slam.

"KAFEI!" a voice screeched form the doorway.

Both teens jumped at the noise, banging their heads on the bed above them with a loud thump.

Two groans sounded simultaneously.


	4. Lessons on Hospitality

**Read and Enjoy! **

**

* * *

**_"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." _

_-Tennessee Williams_

Lessons on Hospitality

_

* * *

_

Alexis winced at the loud voices drifting around her. She was glad she had taken Kafei's offer to sit; she was not sure she would have been able to stay upright long between her rickety crutch and her pounding head.

Gazing tiredly out at the room of arguing men, she was aware that she should be worried out of her mind and paying meticulous attention to the debate, playing out before her, but, after being in this stuffy room since noon, she honestly could not bring herself to give a damn anymore. She just wanted to curl up in a little ball and go to sleep, forgetting the nightmare that was currently her life.

As if reading her thoughts, a hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. Glancing back, she saw Kafei standing protectively behind her chair, as he had since the entire ordeal began. His green eyes sparkled down at her with a comforting smile, the same smile he gave her this morning when everything had started.

_She could not remember the last time she had actually slept through the entire night, so, when a series of loud bangs shattered the peace of the still house that morning, she was groggily conscious. The noise continued on for what seemed to be forever, finally ending with the distinct sound of the front door opening and slamming closed once more. Judging by the lack of light floating in through the tiny excuse for a window in the far corner of her room, she guessed it must have been only about four in the morning. What type of person would stop by someone's house at such an hour?_

_A muffled murmur of furious voices drifted in past the door, causing her to shift upright to better listen. Through the heated whispers, she heard what she was sure was Kafei's father arguing with some other man, or perhaps men, she could not be sure._

_The soft murmur continued on for quite a while. There were times where she could have sworn she heard Kafei's mother and occasionally Kafei, but she was not about to fully trust her senses in her sleep deprived state._

_Giving up on hearing anything worthwhile, Alexis plopped down and huffily threw the covers over her head in an attempt to muffle the noises. She squeezed her eyes shut, groaning as the steadily growing murmur became harder and harder to block out._

_"She's only a child!"_

_At the sound of that shriek and consecutive bang, Alexis shot up in bed, ripping off the covers. What in hell was going on out there? A hush fell across the household, and, for the first time since early that morning, the house lapsed into an unnerving silence._

_That was all she could take. She was going to get up and find out just what was going down. She had the creeping suspicion that the whole thing was not just some family matter._

_Swinging her legs around and off the side of the bed, she took in a deep breath before placing her feet on the ground. The wooden floor felt like ice against her skin. She slowly shifted a slight amount of weight onto her left leg. It certainly felt stiff, but there was no immediate pain, which encouraged her._

_However, before she was able to test its limits, the thuds of heavy footsteps and the loud slam of a door reverberated throughout the house, causing her to pause momentarily._

_Again, an eerie and foreboding sort of silence descended upon the house, and Alexis stared expectantly at the door of her room._

_She was not been disappointed._

_The wood creaked cautiously open, and a ragged and barely awake Kafei hesitantly slipped in. His clothes, which she noted were the same ones he had on yesterday, were heavily wrinkled, while his bright red hair seemed to be trying to disprove the laws of gravity._

_She did not fallen for his expression of mock surprise at seeing her awake._

_"What are ye doing up? Don't yer dare be thinking aboyt walking aroun' on dat leg, lassie! Ma' would 'av a right fit if yer so much as thought aboyt standin' in your condition! Do yer want yer leg ter even 'eal, 'mm?" Kafei exclaimed, talking a mile-a-minute, while fluttering about her._

_She did not, or rather could not, respond, as her mind sluggishly tried to comprehend his heavily accented words that early in the morning. She sighed despairingly at the coming of yet another headache._

_During her moment of distraction, he hurriedly yet gently picked her legs up and tucked them neatly under the covers. He could feel Alexis' eyes boring into him, and he did everything possible to not have to meet them._

_Alexis was well aware of this fact, as she watched with growing irritation as Fei busied himself with securing the blankets around her legs and fiddling with a pitcher of water on her bedside table._

_"Did oi tell yer what 'appened yesterday wi' de goats? Oi wus 'erding dem roun' de pasture ter de north an' they-" Kafei rambled on, while pouring a glass of water and taking out a small bottle of red liquid from a far drawer._

_Alexis winced at its appearance. They had been literally forcing the stuff down her throat every chance they got._

_That was the regular morning prescription: one bottle of red liquid, accompanied by a large glass of water to wash down its horrible taste._

_Kafei still refused to meet her eyes, even as he held out the small bottle for her to drink. He had continued rambling on about his 'near-death-experience', even though he had already given her the event's detailed play-by-play and complementary visual aid in the dirt the night before._

_Alexis crossed her arms and huffed. Only upon her refusal to take the bottle did Kafei finally glance up to meet her unamused stare, wincing slightly at its piercing quality._

_"W-what's de matter, Alexis?" He questioned, shifting his weight uncomfortably._

_"Stop pretending to not know Kafei. We both know I would have had to have been deaf to not hear what's been going on all morning," she pointed out flatly._

_With a sigh Kafei placed the red potion and water on the side table before plopping himself down at the foot of Alexis' bed._

_"Well?" she pushed, impatiently. She had spent all morning in the dark and that most certainly was not going to go on any longer if she could help it._

_"Well, a couple men from de village council stopped by ter talk ter me pa'. 'e's an important member av de Council, yer know? So, they stopped by an' chatted for a bit…" Kafei drifted off, biting his lip._

_"I doubt they stopped by at the crack of dawn to simply chat. What did they want?"_

_"Well, they jist wanted ter discuss sum things wi' me pa. Yer know, village council things…" Kafei continued, eyes staring unfocused at the low ceiling._

_"Kafei," Alexis' voice reached a dangerously low level, "what was it really about?"_

_Kafei glanced down at the young woman with an expression she had not been able to quite figure out._

_"Yer just too damn observant for yer own good," He finally spit out, letting out a deep sigh. "It wus aboyt yer."_

_Alexis froze. She had been right. All of it had been because of her. She had brought this mess to this family, this nice, kind, and absolutely wonderful family that had taken her in and had treated her like one of their own, with no questions asked and with no expectations._

_"Now, hold up lassie," Kafei voiced, hurriedly upon seeing Alexis' expression. "Don't yer go a blamin' yerself for any 'av dis' nonsense."_

_Alexis had already tuned him out. Her mind was racing. How could she have done this? How could she fix this? Dammit, it was all so screwed up!_

_She was been shaken from her thoughts by a rough jerk of her shoulder._

_"Look, before yer go off an' make plans ter be al' self-righteous an' such, maybe yer should slow down an' let me explain a bit?" He said slowly._

_He took Alexis' blank stare as an invitation to continue._

_"Well-" He was cut off by the door whipping open._

_Kafei's mother, Marin, whirled into the room._

_"Alexis, dearie, I need-" she paused at the sight of Kafei's position on the bed. "What 'ave yer told her, boy?"_

_If the situation had not been so serious and Marin's tone so grave, Alexis would have laughed at how Kafei's large frame cowed under his mother's heated glare._

Remembering how Kafei's large frame had cowered under his mother's heated stare, she let out a silent giggle. The Kafei standing behind her squeezed her shoulder warningly. She ignored him and dove back into her recollections.

_"Nothin' she didn't already figure out 'erself," he explained, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Alexis._

_"Your pa' isn't going to be de slightest bit pleased," the woman threatened, letting out an exasperated sigh._

_"What can I do?" Alexis voiced abruptly, startling the two. _

Recalling their expressions, she had to smother another laugh. The last thing she needed these people to add to the list of why-Alexis-does-not-deserve-to-breathe-the-same-air-as-us-creepy-white-haired-technologically-deprived-mountain-folk was possible mental instability.

_"What are yer talkin' aboyt, dearie?"_

_"Look, I know something's wrong, and I know it's because of me. Now, what can I do to help?" Alexis deadpanned._

_Kafei's mother gave her a withering stare. "Gran' 'eavens, what 'as become 'av dis 'ousehold?!" the older woman exclaimed, throwing her hands up._

_She began to mumble angrily, too low for Alexis to understand, turning back to the girl only after she seemed to have blown off enough steam._

_"Oi recognize dat look. There be no changin' your mind den, oi presume?" the older woman questioned, beginning to bustle about the room, glancing up in time to catch the shake of Alexis' head. "Well, den dearie, let's set aboyt gettin' yer ready."_

She glanced down at the scratchy, woolen dress she was currently wearing. She remembered Kafei's mother forcefully shoving the green cloth over her head, just before she had brandished a rustic excuse for a hair brush, yanking at her hair so hard that Alexis had been sure clumps must have been ripped from her scalp. Marin had then just as roughly tugged her hair back into tight braid.

_"De better for showing off those ears av yers."_ She remembered Marin telling her, whatever the hell that had meant.

Wincing at the memory, Alexis mentally swore to never allow the woman to help her get ready for _any_thing under _any _conditions. Despite this, she had to admit that it had been pleasant to have someone dote over her all motherly-like; it was a feeling that she was not quite used to.

Soon after Kafei's mother had declared her appearance satisfactory, Kafei had burst excitedly into the room wielding what he had declared a crutch.

In all honesty, it had looked like an oddly shaped stick, but when Kafei had announced that he had spent the last couple of days carving it, she had kept her thoughts to herself.

In the end, the stick had turned out to be surprisingly sturdy and effective in preventing any irritation of her wound or ripping of her stitches; however, it had to be one of the most awkward things she had ever used. Also, to only add to her burning hate of the object, it had single-handedly dragged out one of the most embarrassing and horrible moments of her life: the trip to the center of the village.

_Alexis was finally permitted to leave with Kafei and his father, but only after Mrs. Dotour had straightened absolutely everything on her person one last time, mumbling heatedly to herself about ridiculous, paranoid old goats. _

"_Now, don't let dat group of old men scare yer de slightest. Their al' bark an' no bite, yer 'ear?" Kafei's mother reassured, tucking a piece of blond hair behind Alexis' ear, "Nothing is gonna 'appen ter yer dearie, Rusl 'ill make sure 'av it." The matronly woman sent a harsh look at her husband, who chuckled nervously. _

"_We've got to be goin' Marin. We wouldn't want ter keep dohs 'old goats' waitin'." Her husband declared cheerily, herding the two teens out the door before his wife could really get in another word. _

_They suited each other quite well, Alexis observed. With his light hearted and easygoing demeanor, Kafei's father perfectly balanced out his wife's own emotional and fiery personality. _

"_Supper is at dusk!" Marin cried after them. "And don't yer dare be late, or oi 'ill bust into dat little club of yers and drag you lot out meself!" _

_Both Kafei and his father winced at her words. Alexis could only imagine that such an incident had occurred before. _

_From what she could tell, the Dotour's farm seemed to lie on the outskirts of the village. A wide dirt path curved round the front of the property. To the west, it ran toward the thick forests in the distance before it curved out of above the dark green of the trees were colossal, white mountains. Their abruptness and stark contrast to the verdant valley made the entire view could not help but feel as if the entire image had been photo-shopped, or something of the sort. _

_Turning away from the towering mountains, Alexis peered down the road to her left. She could make out countless little stone and wood cottages dotting the landscape, small billows of smoke rising from their stone chimneys. _

_As the road wound along, the buildings steady became denser until they reached what she decided must have been the very center of the entire community. A large plot of grass lay before a high arched building, far larger than any she had seen so far. This, she assumed, must have been where they were meeting this "council." _

It had also only been during this trip to that great edifice that Kafei had finally graced her with the knowledge of what was really going on.

"_Roi, let's start from de beginning…" Kafei began, tucking his arms behind his head, as they walked along. Alexis tried desperately to ignore all the stares she was receiving and focused all her attention on Fei. _

"_Well, yer 'av ter understan' de geography av de place first. Dis entire village," he made wide gestures with his hands, "is completely surrounded by icy, impenetrable mountains, completely unlivable. De legends say dat a Great Spirit lives within these 'arsh mountains, and when our ancestors wandered 'ere from a far away lan', dis Spirit took pity on dem an' created dis fertile valley in the deepest part av de mountains. _

"_Here, de people would forever be protected an' isolated from de evils av the world. Over time we 'av discovered small paths through these mountains ter de outside world, allowin' us ter 'av a flourishin' fur trade with de people av Hyrule, which lies on de other side av those mountains dare," he explained, pointing to the snowy peaks to the west. _

"_Seven winters ago, de King av Hyrule wus overthrown by an evil man, de King av Darkness, Ganondorf. Since then, de land of Hyrule 'as been slowly tainted wi' de evils av dis man; 'owever, cos av de protection av the Great Spirit, dis village 'as remained untouched by dis darkness." Kafei paused to take in Alexis' reaction. _

_Her face was expressionless, and her gaze locked on the ground in front of her. He could not sure if it was simply so she would not trip with the crutch or not. _

"_An' then yer came," Kafei stated, excitedly. _

_Alexis eyes shot up, as she stumbled lightly. _

"_Sum av de villagers see yer as a sign av dat encroachin' evil, evidence dat our village isn't as isolated an' protected as we vainly thought it wus. They think yer are de first av many ter follow, an' for dat reason sum are not very welcomin' ter your presence. Rumors 'ave been whispered dat perhaps yer are a spy for Ganondorf, sent ter infiltrate dis valley an' brin' 'is darkness upon us," Kafei elaborated in a tone Alexis deemed far too cheerful for the topic. _

_He seemed to want to burst into laughter at Alexis wide eyed expression. _

"_They think I'm a bloody spy?!" Alexis exclaimed, stopping. _

_Kafei let out a chuckle, "Ridiculous, isn't it? Imagine, yer, a spy 'av de Dark Lord." Kafei collapsed into a fit of laughter._

"_Kafei, this is not funny!" Alexis proclaimed, stomping her foot, "What if they find me guilty or something? Will they imprison me? Could I be executed? I haven't even done any-" Alexis paused, short of breath when Kafei jerked roughly on her shoulders. _

_Forcing her to look him in the eyes, he suddenly grew very serious. _

"_Listen 'ere, Alexis. Absolutely nothin' is gonna 'appen ter yer, understan'? Oi, an' me family, won't allow it. Not everyone in this village is a paranoid fool. Others 'ill see yer as we do, a simple young lass, who is very far from 'ome and terribly lost," He stated firmly, his eyes boring into Alexis'. _

_This had to be the most serious she had ever seen Fei before. For once, he actually acted as if he were her senior by two years._

"_Not a single 'air on dat pretty wee head is gonna be touched," Kafei ended with a grin, as he gave Alexis' head a pat. _

"_Now let's 'urry an' catch up before de old goats git cranky." _

_She looked up to find Kafei's father a good deal in front of them. Man, she was really slow with this crutch. Mr. Dotour's bright snowy hair was steadily less and less discernable._

She had previously assumed his hair had merely gotten white with age, but as they had walked through the village, Alexis had noticed something very unsettling. All of the people, men, women, and children, shared his snowy white hair and icy blue eyes.

Alexis had honestly never felt so out of place and foreign in her entire life. Her hay colored hair and dark brown eyes made her feel dirty in that sea of snow and ice.

It did not help that, as she passed, everyone in the immediate area had abruptly stopped anything they had been previously doing and stared. She remembered feeling the shivers running up and down her spine the entire way, as if the villager's frosty gazes had actually been stealing her warmth.

It had also not escaped her that after they she had passed, the natives behind her had without fault immediately burst into a flurry of talk, no doubt about the freaky alien girl.

Even here in the council room, all of these men shared the same striking features, as apparently the rest of the entire village.

Alexis could not help but wonder how Kafei's mother had ended up so drastically different in appearance compared to the rest of the villagers with her flaming red hair and warm green eyes, which she clearly had passed on to Kafei. She made a mental note to ask him about it later, after this whole mess was taken care of.

Bored of her musings, Alexis let herself drift back into the conversation, trying to gauge its progress.

She nearly cried in frustration.

They had been there for hours and the same exact arguments that had been presented hours earlier were still being raised and argued over again without any head-way whatsoever.

"How did she even make it on the mountain and survive? Only the evil of Ganondorf could have accomplished such a thing!"

"She must have purposefully injured herself on our animal trap, knowing that we would find her and take her to the village!"

"It was our trap, which injured her. It is, therefore, at the very least, our responsibility to house and provide care for her until she is fully healed."

"Ganondorf has not even succeeded in taking over all of Hyrule, who is to say that he would concern himself with us as of yet? Even more dubious is his usage of a young girl."

It was only when Alexis was ready to simply scream profanity at the top of her lungs that the heated 'discussion' pulled a one-eighty.

"If no one has cared to acknowledge, the young lass is human."

At this statement, the entire group fell silent and all of their icy gazes swiveled to Alexis, who promptly flushed bright red.

One of the men she had put in the anti-Alexis camp approached her and roughly grabbed hold of her chin.

He seemed to be a village elder of sorts, for he along with two others seemed to reign supreme among the men of the group. Alexis did not really take in much of his physical appearance other than his wrinkly pale skin and sharp blue eyes that seemed to her frostier than all the others combined.

With icy cold fingers, the man jerked her head from side to side, peering closely at her small, rounded ears.

Alexis wondered briefly what else she could possibly be other than human, but decided it was simply best to keep her mouth shut. No one had yet to ask her opinion this entire time, and she was not about to offer it, fearful of making things even worse.

"Being human, it is quite dubious that she heralded from Hyrule. I also sincerely doubt Ganondorf would have any other contact with humans besides members of our own village, as we do not even know the residence of our brethren. It is then impossible for her to have been sent by Ganondorf," one of the other two village elders resolutely declared.

Alexis immediately ranked that dude on the top of her amazingly-cool-must-worship-ground-they-walk-on people list.

The man who had been inspecting her ears jerked away from her and slinked back to the other two elders.

"Perhaps, a compromise would be the best route." The third village elder stood up. "I propose the lass remain in the village until healed. She may then be taken out with the next caravan of traders and perhaps taken to Kakariko Village or other areas of Hyrule, where, goddess' willing, someone might recognize her."

The words of the man washed over the Council. Discussion began again, though lacking the heat of the previous debate. It seemed as if a consensus had been reached, finally.

So, they were sending her away.

She was not exactly sure how she should feel over such a thing. She had already entertained the idea that this place must be just like some strange village of Amish type people, who have rejected technology or whatever, like the people in that movie _The Village_.

If so, getting out of here would probably be the best option for her. She could get hold of a phone and get herself home.

Even as these thoughts crossed her mind, a sinking feeling developed in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Link dragged himself warily over the rotting wood that in a previous life had been the castle's drawbridge.

He had spent the last three hours of his time and nearly all of his energy destroying every ReDead he could get his hands on.

His boots splashed carelessly in the murky water of the once crystal-clear moat.

He looked out tiredly over Hyrule Field. At least it hadn't changed much, he noted. Though, he thought troubled, everything seemed to now have a dark hue cast on it.

He found a certain cry of despair in everything he looked at. Even the sun seemed to not shine as bright as he once remembered. Not even it could cut away at the darkness that this land had fallen under.

He stared longingly out at the setting sun, thinking of better days and the pledge he made to bring them back.

"Hey, Link! Look!" Navi cried shrilly, fluttering wildly above the decaying wood.

The hero gave one last longing glance out over the great field and lowering sun before making his way over to the fairy. Shoving a piece of wreckage out of the way, Link froze in shock. There half submerged in the water was a small girl.

"Is she even alive?" Navi asked, peering at her motionless face.

"I think so." Link replied, checking for signs of breathing.

A small rise of her chest confirmed his suspicion. He hastily hauled her limp body out of the water and onto the soft grass.

"Link, be careful! She's injured!" Navi cried, flying frantically about his head.

A thin cut ran along the girl's face, vanishing into her hairline.

"What do I do now?" Link asked, looking to Navi, after settling the girl in what he decided was a comfortable position.

"You treat her wound, of course! There should be bandages somewhere…" Navi answered, digging through Link's pack. "There! Right here Link!" Navi cried from the bottom of the bag.

Following the blue glow, Link reached in and tugged out the large wad of cotton dressings, spilling the majority of his bag in the process.

"I got the pot!" Navi announced proudly, emerging from the spillage. "It's to boil the water!"

Link swiftly intervened, snatching the metal pot, as he saw the fairy dip sharply under its weight.

In just a couple of minutes, the hero sat prodding the small fire, while Navi kept meticulous watch over the slowly warming water, waiting to declare the moment it started to boil.

"Maybe she's a victim of the attack on the Castle Market Place. Being hidden by the wood like that, she was probably never noticed by any of the others who escaped," Link proposed.

"That's possible, but with the condition that place is in," Navi replied, a wince evident in her voice, "it appears as if it has been in that state for quite a while, years maybe. But one never knows."

Link nodded thoughtfully, though secretly hoping she was wrong. It brought him far more comfort in knowing that the attack had been recent and that Hyrule had not been living in this state for the entirety of the seven years of his absence.

"AH!" a piercing scream filled the air.

Link toppled forward in surprise, knocking over the water and effectively dousing the fire.

"It had just begun to boil…" Navi muttered remorsefully.

"Where the hell am I?!" a voice screeched.

Link turned to find the previously unconscious girl wide awake and appearing quite panic stricken.

"Who the hell are you?! Why am I wet?! Oh my God, is that blood!? Why am I bleeding?! Did you attack me?! Where the hell am I?!"

It was a few minutes before the ringing in Link's ears finally passed that he was finally able to formulate a response.

"Um, well, I am Link. I am not exactly sure why you are bleeding. I most certainly did not harm you in anyway. I just hauled you from among the wreckage over there." Link replied warily.

The girl's head swiveled, following his finger. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the decaying moat.

"Why was I there?!" she demanded angrily, jerking back to Link.

"Where you a victim of the attack here?" Link questioned, rising slowly to his feet, hands raised cautiously as to not startle her.

"What attack?! Where is here?! I don't even know where the hell I am?!" the girl cried.

"We are presently outside what used to be the castle gates and the market place," Link explained.

The girl merely blinked dumbly back.

"Just before the castle. Hyrule Castle?" Link elaborated, but still he found no spark of recognition in the girl's face.

"We are currently standing in Hyrule Field? In the land of Hyrule?" Link questioned further.

"None of those names mean anything to me! Just tell me what state we're in!" the girl demanded frustrated.

Link glanced questioningly at Navi.

"I'm not certain what you are asking…" he said carefully.

"What are you talking about?! I asked you what state we're in! The state, like Colorado, Texas, as in the United _States_ of America!" she exclaimed, arms flailing.

At the blank expression upon Link's face, the girl directly collapsed into a fit of sobs.

Link turned to Navi in panic, thrown completely off balance by the entire situation. He detested feeling helpless.

"Perhaps she has lost her memory. I have heard that occasionally occurs with a particular nasty blow to the head." Navi proposed.

Link nodded in agreement, glancing over at the girl, who was now wailing into her knees.

"Um, Miss," Link began, cautiously approaching the hunched over figure, "we have decided that perhaps you have simply lost your memory. So then…" Link paused just before her crouching down to her level.

"Miss?" he repeated when the girl showed no signs of hearing anything he had just said. In fact, the sobs seemed to have gotten louder.

He reached a tentative hand out to tap her shoulder.

"Miss, I understand you are quite upset bu-"

Suddenly, the girl threw out her arms and sprung forward. Link blinked shocked, suddenly finding himself clutching the shaking body of the girl, who was now soaking his tunic with her tears.

The hero sent Navi a questioning glance, as she fluttered about them worriedly.

"Comfort her!" she declared exasperatedly. She released a sigh."Boys."

Link tried desperately to recall all the times Saria had comforted him whenever he had gotten injured or upset, typically following a particularly nasty fight with Mido. She would always hold him tight, sometimes whispering words of comfort into his ear or humming that one song of hers, while rubbing his back soothingly. Well, he certainly had no idea what to say nor was there any way he was going to hum to her, so he settled with simply rubbing her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

Time passed and Link watched the sun lower over the girl's head. It had almost dipped completely below the horizon when she finally pulled away, still hiccupping slightly.

"Do you feel any better?" Link asked, glancing at her tear-stained face and his now soaked tunic.

"No," the girl declared flatly, "I feel even worse."

"You should have tried harder Link!" Navi squeaked.

The girl's swollen, blood shot eyes shifted to the ball of light floating about Link's head.

"A Deku Scrub would have done a better job than you!" she cried, as Link swatted her in annoyance.

At the sound of Navi's voice, the young girl's eyes widened and promptly rolled to the back of her head, body flopping over.

"You see what you caused!" Navi cried, fluttering over the girl's slumped over body.

Perhaps he should have tried humming.


	5. The Little Things Give You Away

**Disclaimer: All characters and names that are familiar have been stolen from the Zelda series and are not a result of my own pitiful imagination. Anything unfamiliar is more than likely my own creations.**

**Read, enjoy, and review! **

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* * *

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_"Over the years your bodies become walking autobiographies, telling friends and strangers alike of the minor and major stresses of your lives."_

_-__Marilyn Ferguson_

The Little Things Give You Away

* * *

It was already noon.

The sun hung directly over his head, glaring mercilessly down upon him. He could feel the sweat trailing down his back and could even taste it as it dripped down his face. He had been walking for _hours. _

He paused to shift the load on his back.

It had only been upon Navi's obnoxious insistence that he had finally caved and agreed to find the girl _immediate_ medical attention, which meant _not _at Kakariko Village, where he was supposed to be heading, but Lon Lon Ranch, roughly half the distance and the _opposite _direction.

To make the entire situation even better, the girl had refused to wake, even after he had dumped buckets of dirty moat water on her, carefully of course; he didn't want to drown the 'poor thing'. He was left then with the task of trying to figure out a way to get the comatose body onto his back.

"_Link, be careful with her!"_

After at least his hundredth attempt, he had become thoroughly convinced the girl was awake and purposely sabotaging his efforts.

"_Link, listen! She does not bend that way!"_

His annoyance and frustration peaked as, once he had managed to position the lifeless body on his back, the 'injured maiden' had proved less than appreciative, as she openly drooled on his shoulder.

And, goddesses, was his back killing him. He was nearly bent in half in order to keep his passed out load from sliding off, both arms wrapped around her legs, keeping them attached to his waist. He quickly discovered his 'new and improved' older body wasn't as in shape as he had expected. His bones groaned under the dead weight; his muscles proved stiff and increasingly resistant to his cross country expedition.

But, as if his suffering wasn't enough already, his ears were ringing constantly with Navi's shrill screeches, which would sound in correspondence to the slightest slackening of his grip.

"Link, pay attention! Do you want the poor girl to be even more traumatized!?"

He rolled his eyes, but paused to adjust the weight on his back; she would not stop nagging until he did.

His mind wandered back to his encounter with Sheik. According to _him_, he couldn't continue on to the Forest Temple, until he found _something helpful_ in Kakariko. It had to be the vaguest piece of advice he had ever been given, which spoke for itself considering the hundreds of 'subtle hints' he had received thus far.

What in Hyrule did _helpful_ mean? Was it a map, a compass? Perhaps it was some sort of potion or armor, or maybe a new shield.

Either way, he did not have a clue of where to begin searching. Kakariko was a sizable village, spread out over different terraces, though considerably smaller than Hyrule Castle Town, or at least as it had been.

He supposed he could try asking around, but he couldn't see that being particularly productive.

"_Oh, excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have seen something_ helpful_ lying around the village, would you?"_

He wasn't going to be getting very far with that line. If only that uptight blonde had been a little less vague, he might actually have something to work with.

But, then again, when had his 'quest' ever been easy?

"AAAHHHH!!!" a voice screeched abruptly in his ear. He promptly dropped the load on his back and fell to his knees cradling his ears and ringing head.

The screaming did not cease.

"RAPIST!"

He forced one eye open to see the previously motionless weight scrambling to her feet from the dirt he had dropped her in. Her mouth was open, the source of the shrill shriek. Tears poured down her cheeks in absolute panic. She had an obvious problem keeping both legs under her, as Link watched her topple to the ground at least ten times in the distance of five feet.

"RAPIST!"

She continued to screech, even as she finally became stable enough to stay upright for more than a few yards. Link struggled to get to his feet, head pounding fiercely.

"Wait…!" Link forced out, wincing at the sound of his own voice.

"RAPIST! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

"Link! Do something before she hurts herself!" Navi cried, as the girl tumbled to the ground roughly and just as quickly fell back into her awkward crawl.

Thinking quickly, Link reached back and whipped out his boomerang. It cut through the air with careful precision, aimed perfectly to arc around the girl with the intent of startling her into stopping.

However, upon sighting the weapon, the girl let out another shrill cry and promptly launched herself to the left, directly into the path of the returning boomerang.

"Watch-!"

With a solid thump the boomerang collided with the side of her head. Link watched with a growing sense of dread as the girl wavered on the spot before her body finally slumped roughly into the dirt.

"Link! What have you done!?"

He placed a hand over his eyes and groaned.

* * *

Link had the overwhelming urge to burst into tears, as Lon Lon Ranch's tall gates began to take shape in the darkness.

The sun had set hours ago, and the storm had set in not long after. He swore the girl on his back had been gaining weight steadily throughout the day. Her corpse like state had not changed since the _incident_ early that afternoon, and the pouring rain had made it increasingly difficult for him to keep his grip on her slippery, lifeless limbs.

To make matters worse, the icy rain had soaked him to the bone, leaving his body numb and shivering. At least one good thing had come from the downpour. With just a few drops, Navi had taken shelter under his hat, ceasing her hours long lecture on his 'irresponsibility'.

He reached the tall wooden gate and kicked at it furiously, praying that someone would hear the noise over the storm. He would give all of his rupees for simply a pair of dry clothes, a warm meal, and a soft bed.

He could make out a faint glow slowly approaching the gate. With a muted click, a small window popped open.

"Hello? Anyone there?" a voice cried out.

"Yes, yes, I'm here! I have a girl with me who's injured and needs medical attention!" he shouted.

The window slammed shut. With a tremor, the large wooden gate creaked open, revealing a small figure huddled under a dark cape, clutching a flickering lamp.

"Hurry in!"

* * *

Link awoke the next morning with a pounding headache.

He cracked his eyes open, but immediately slammed them closed, the light burning. He rolled over and groaned into his pillow.

"Why you're quite a morning person."

In a flash, he leapt out of the bed, reaching for the sword on his back, only to grasp empty air.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," came a soft voice.

His eyes landed on the small red-head standing in the doorway, clutching a rather large jug of white liquid.

"I'm Malon, remember? I let you in last night." She smiled widely at him, placing the jug on the crate next to the makeshift bed.

"Here's a bottle of Lon Lon Milk, made right here on the ranch. It should have you feeling better in no time!" she explained. "Oh, your friend hasn't woken up yet, but I started cleaning up her wounds as well as I could, though I'm afraid I'm not that good of a nurse."

"Friend?" Link questioned, still disoriented.

"The girl? The one you showed up with last night?"

"Oh, her," he said, tone sour. "We're not friends. We're not even acquaintances; I found her unconscious in the moat of Hyrule Castle."

"Oh, how horrible!" Malon exclaimed. Link nodded, absentmindedly.

"I figured that she had been a victim of the attack on Hyrule Castle."

"The attack on the castle took place seven years ago," she responded, giving Link an odd look.

"Oh, right, of course," Link replied weakly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, then, I came to give you your clothes; they dried over night downstairs." Malon said, placing a pile of clothes, Link hadn't even noticed her carrying, down on the bed. "I have to go finish stitching up our mystery girl. She has got two nasty cuts on her head and some sizable bumps. Poor thing is going to be so disoriented when she awakes."

She spoke not noticing Link's winces at the mention of the girl's wounds.

"You're welcome to wander around the ranch, as long as you don't cause too much trouble. If you want, you can even ride some horses," she winked back at him. "The current _owner_ of the ranch is away."

Link couldn't help but notice the edge of bitterness in her voice.

* * *

"Listen! Link, maybe we should go check on her!"

"For the last time, Navi, no. I would be more than happy, if I never had to see that girl _ever _again."

"Don't be like that Link! She couldn't help what she did; she was just really confused," Navi exclaimed. "And you owe it to her after giving her that huge lump on her head!"

He sighed; he would never be able to live that moment down.

"Fine, though it's not like it will do any good." He turned grudgingly and marched back into the small barn house.

His path was blocked by a startled Malon.

"Oh, I was just coming to get you! She just woke up!" she exclaimed, brightly.

"Oh," Link replied, lacking her enthusiasm.

Her face fell a little. "I have to warn you though; she's a little confused from the bumps on her head. She claims she's on vacation, and the last thing she remembers is being on a 'plain'. On top of that, she is thoroughly convinced this is all a dream," Malon grimly explained.

Link's apprehension must have been visible because Malon instantly brightened. "Don't worry, though! I'm sure she'd be happy to have a visitor. She's quite energetic and doesn't seem too pleased I insisted that she remain in bed today. I would stay with her, but I have so much work to do, especially with Mr. Ingo gone!"

Malon slipped by Link and gave him a gentle shove before disappearing out the door. Link was left standing awkwardly alone staring up at the door, behind which said girl rested. A sense of guilt had begun gnawing at him with increasing intensity.

"Oh!"

Link jumped at the sound of the door opening. He turned to see Malon's head peaking in. "I forgot to tell you! Her name is Chloe. Good luck!" With that parting exclamation, the door slammed closed.

Link let out a large sigh. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Malon?" a voice drifted down the stairs. Alarmed, Link looked around desperately for an escape route.

"Hello, Malon? Are you there?"

Link quietly cursed, as his conscious got a hold of him and he began ascending the stairs. Taking a deep breath, he twisted the handle and opened the door.

Two bright round green eyes stared back at him. The small girl was propped upright with pillows in the soft bed. White bandages wrapped tightly around her head, making her short black hair stick up in all sorts of angles.

"Um, hello," Link stammered awkwardly, "I'm Li-"

"You're the rapist!" she cried, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"What?"

"HELP!" she cried.

"Wait, hold on!" Link exclaimed, ducking abruptly as some unidentifiable object was hurled at him. "This is all just a misunderstanding!"

"RAPIST!" He was forced to dodge again. "KIDNAPPER!" He dived onto the floor. "HELP!" This was ridiculous.

"STOP!"

The girl paused, mid throw, startled at the boy's loud shout.

"Look, I simply found you, injured in Hyrule Field and brought you here! Nothing else!" he exclaimed, peeking over the edge of the bed.

Her green eyes narrowed, suspiciously at him.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Very," he answered, hastily.

"Okay, then!" she exclaimed, happily, dropping her arm. "I'm Chloe! Nice to meetcha!"

Link blinked dumbly up at her. It was that easy?

"Normally when someone tells you their name, you tell them yours," she said, impatiently.

"Link," he replied, still shocked.

"What?" She scrunched up her face in confusion.

"My name, its Link," he explained.

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so?" she criticized lightly. "That's a weird name."

Link narrowed his eyes. "Well, so is Chlo-e!" he responded, defensively.

"No, it's not! It's a perfectly acceptable name." she humped, crossing her arms.

"Well, so is Link!"

"Nu-uh."

"Yea-uh."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes is it, end of conversation." Link concluded, smugly.

"Hey! You're not allowed to end a yes-no argument like that!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger in his direction. "That means I win by default!"

"Wait, what? How am I not allowed?" Link questioned, features contorting in confusion.

"It's part of the rules, silly!"

"Rules?" Link asked, perplexed. There were rules to this sort of things? How much did he miss out on while trapped in the Sacred Realm?

"Yes, of course there are rules!" She sent him a weird look.

"Well then, what are they?"

She shook her head, "You're not allowed to tell someone who doesn't know the rules, the rules. It's a rule." She nodded her head, sagely.

"How is that fair?" Link exclaimed.

"Life's not fair, my friend," she said, solemnly. The room went quiet.

Link stared at the girl, mind reeling. Did the world really change so much, while he slept? How much more would he have to learn to fit in again?

"Well," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Let's blow this popsicle stand, buddy." Link had no idea what she had just said, but he vaguely remembered Malon telling him that Chloe was not allowed to get out of bed.

In just two strides he had placed himself between Chloe and the door she was reaching for.

"Malon said you were supposed to stay in bed."

Chloe looked up at him, grumpily. "Do you always do what you're told?"

"Yes?" Link responded, unsure.

"So, how about you move out of the way?" She smiled up at him sweetly.

"Not always," he responded shortly, narrowing his eyes down at her. The top of her head barely even reached his shoulder.

"Well, you're no fun," she said, huffing and crossing her arms. "I could wake up any second now, and I really wanted to see the horses before that!"

Link raised an eyebrow at her. "You're really convinced this is all a dream?"

"Of course it's a dream! What else could it be?" she said, sending him a look as if he were slow.

He was tempted to respond, but remembered that she was suffering from severe head trauma, part of which he had caused, and it would probably not be best to start a debate over her perception of reality at that moment.

"Well, in this dream, you're very injured, so how about you play the role of the nice, docile invalid?" he said, pushing her towards the bed.

"But I feel fine! I could run a marathon if I wanted to!" she protested. Link had to restrain himself from pointing out that she currently believed herself to be in a dream and was talking to what she _believed _was a _dream_ person, both of which were two definite signs of _not _being fine.

* * *

"How is everyone doing?" Malon exclaimed, as she burst into the room, balancing a large tray. "I brought some lunch!"

Link was startled. It was already noon? He had been in there that long?

"Hey Malon! Perfect timing, I was just about ready to get up and hunt down some food myself!" Chloe exclaimed, eagerly eyeing the copious amounts of food the red-head had piled onto the tray.

He couldn't believe he had already wasted half of his day. It seemed like only minutes ago he had forced the small girl back in bed, where she had animatedly begun to narrate what had to have been her entire life. Yet, he found himself not minding her nonstop chatter so much. It was oddly soothing to just listen for once, to not be expected to contribute or to comment, to simply flow along with the ups and downs of the stories.

The tales the girl told ranged from awkward social moments to crazy, outlandish pranks, though all had one uniting theme. Chloe and some girl named 'Lex' always managed to find themselves in a tight spot and miraculously escape with only relatively minimal punishments. Half of the words that came out of her mouth were lost on him, but passed without comment, as he was content to simply grasp the overall gist.

The pattern was an obvious one. Chloe would involve her friend and herself in some crazy scheme or ridiculous endeavor, and this 'Lex' would be forced to somehow ingeniously save both of their hides. The situations reminded him vaguely of his friendship with Saria, and how she had always endlessly humored all of his new 'ideas' and 'adventures'. He wondered absentmindedly if this friend of Chloe's ever thought to prevent the inevitable from the start. If she did and still went along with it, he supposed then Chloe's friend must get something she deemed valuable out of all these experiences, though he could not imagine what. Perhaps-

"HAT BOY!"

His head snapped up to lock onto the small, smug figure in the bed before him. "Took you long enough," she said, exasperatedly. "Malon has been trying to get your attention for like the last _hundred_ minutes."

He was tempted to sneer at the girl, but Malon hurriedly intervened, shoving a wrapped bundle and jar into his hands.

"Here's your lunch and some Lon Lon Milk," she said, pleasantly. "Now, I have to go return to my chores. Those stalls aren't going to be cleaning themselves!"

"Ah, come on, Malon! The stalls aren't going anywhere. Eat lunch with us!" Chloe whined.

"I don't know," the farm girl replied, torn, "I have a lot of responsibilities…."

"Please, Malon! I want someone to actually talk to! Link doesn't say anything! I swear, he's like a closet mute or something."

Link pounded on his chest to loosen the piece of bread he had just choked on, all the while glaring at Chloe.

"Please, Malon! You know you want to!"

"Oh, alright, I'll go grab my own lunch," she gave in with a soft smile.

As soon as Malon had shut the door behind her, Link turned to give the bedridden girl the dirtiest look he could muster.

"Oh get over yourself," she said, rolling her eyes and waving at him, dismissively, "I just said those things to get Malon to eat lunch with us. The girl needs to learn to let herself take a break once in a while. The horses aren't going to keel over without an hour of her undivided attention."

Link shot up, remembering something. He heard Chloe call out to him as he took down the stairs, "Hey! Where are you going?! I'm sorry, okay?!"

Opening the door, he almost collided with Malon again, as she rushed in. Chloe had been right; the farm girl always seemed to be in a hurry.

"Oh, Link! Is something the matter? Was something wrong with your lunch?" she questioned.

"No, no, everything is great! I just remembered something important," he clarified, rubbing the back of his neck. "I need to buy a horse."

Her eyes dimmed. "Oh, I'm sorry Link, but I'm not allowed to sell any horses without Mr. Ingo's permission. He was summoned by King Ganondorf a few days ago to make arrangements for a purchase of his."

Link made a noise of understanding, badly hiding his disappointment. He would waste an entire day walking to Karkariko Village by foot. "Well, do you know when he will be returning?"

"Well, I expected him to return today, though I suppose he could have been held up. He should be back by tomorrow, then, I hope. You're welcome to stay another night and wait." She said, sending him an apologetic look.

Link nodded absentmindedly, as the farm hand retreated up the stairs. He figured he should consult with Navi first before making any decision, though he didn't think it would hurt much to wait another day.

He retraced his steps, resolving to track down Navi after finishing his lunch; he couldn't let good food go to waste.

* * *

Splinters dug into the palms of her hands as they clenched loosely onto the edge of the weather-worn fence. Her feet swung lazily in the crisp morning air.

A small herd of livestock shifted about peacefully out before her in the grassy field. Kafei had called the animals goats, but they looked nothing like any goats she had ever seen. With soft blue fur and two large horns which met to form a large circle above their heads, these animals had to be one of the strangest things she had ever laid eyes on. With their hulking frames, they were about the size of an oddly shaped cow.

Alexis could not help but to be slightly wary of these 'goats'. She had seen the bruises that covered Kafei after a rogue beast had tried to separate itself from the herd.

Therefore, she had been careful to maintain a healthy distance between herself and the blue cows, settling for simply watching Kafei deal with the stubborn animals. And that was how she had been spending her mornings since the incident with the Village Council.

Before dawn, a sickeningly upbeat Fei would drag her limp body out of bed to 'keep him company' as he performed his morning chores.

At first, she had insisted on helping him. She had been sitting around, taking up space, and eating these people's food, so she figured the least she could do was to help out a bit. At least she would not be a _total _free-loader. Despite this, 'helping' did not turn out exactly as she had hoped, and she had been promptly been exiled by Fei to 'fence duty'. There she sat out of the way, nice and safe, merely watching Kafei labor about.

She had even gone so far as to claim a specific section of the fence as her own. Its slight dip provided the ideal seat, while at the same time it was perfectly positioned next to the dirt path. The less terrain she had to attempt to cross with her crutch, the less chances she had of making a fool of herself.

"Are ye going ter tell me somethin' else, or will oi 'av to pry de tales out of yer?"

Kafei's shout brought her out of her musings. She glanced up to see him staring at her expectantly, leaning on his pitchfork.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" she exclaimed, rolling her eyes, "Go back to shoveling your hay!" She made a shooing motion with her hands.

"Nu-uh! We 'ad an agreement, lassy," he exclaimed. "Oi might jist find dis a gran' time ter take a wee break. Oi am feelin' a bit thirsty, unless yer 'av sum way ter perhaps, motivate me?" Kafei grinned cheekily over at her.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Alexis exclaimed, waving her hands. "Let me think…have I told you about telephones, yet?"

"No," Kafei replied, turning back to shovel the hay into the goat pen, looking distinctly pleased with himself. "Dat wus what yer kept askin' for when yer first got 'ere, roit?" he questioned.

Alexis had to restrain herself from throwing something at the teenager at his smug tone.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you remembered that."

"Well, lassy," he said grinning back at her, "Yer only asked for one bout a million times."

Alexis turned red, remembering those earlier days.

"Anyway," Alexis cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment, "back to the point. A telephone is a sort of device that you use to talk to someone far, far away."

"Loike a letter?" Fei questioned, confused.

"No, no, I mean literally talk. For example," she began, "what was that town's name again? The one y'all are shipping me off to? Kariko? Karkriko?"

"Yer mean Kakariko Village?" he filled in.

"Yeah, that's the one!" Alexis exclaimed. "Okay, so imagine someone you know in that village. Now, if you both have a telephone, you would be able to hear each other's voices and talk through the phone just as well as we are now."

Alexis was not sure if she should feel pleased or slightly nauseated at Kafei's wide eyes.

"What sort of magic do yer have to use to do such a thing? Is this device some sort of crystal ball?" he inquired, fascinated.

"No, no, it's nothing like a crystal ball. A telephone looks more like a small rectangular box. You hold it up to your face like this," Alexis explained, demonstrating with her hands. "You talk into this end and hold the other up to your ear to hear the person on the other line. No magic involved, either; it's all science."

Kafei nodded thoughtfully to himself, mechanically shoveling hay. Alexis could tell by the furrow of his brow that he was carefully turning over the idea in his head. He had had the same reaction when she had told him about televisions and cars. She could not wait until she mentioned airplanes.

Out of everyone she knew here, which was a considerably small amount of people, Kafei was the only one who actually believed her story.

His parents would nod politely at her vehement rejections to the idea of amnesia, but she knew they held their own doubts.

She couldn't blame them. If some crazy chick showed up in her backyard passed out and injured and claiming to be from some country and land she had never heard of, she would be a little more than doubtful as well.

Then there was Fei. For reasons beyond her, the boy immediately accepted her entire story and had arrived at the conclusion that she must have come from a completely other world.

Alexis silently disagreed, or more like she absolutely refused to believe such a ludicrous idea.

Her hopes were set on this being some weird type of rejection-of-technology-and-modern-world group of radicals who had decided to isolate themselves in the mountains of Colorado.

This meant that her best chance of ever getting back home was to get out of this village as soon as possible and over those mountains to the nearest phone or police station.

"Do yer purchase dis device ter only talk ter wan person, or can yer talk ter other people dat 'av these te-le-fones, too?" Kafei questioned, startling Alexis.

"Well, um, yeah, you can talk to anyone else who has a phone. The telephone has these ten buttons on it, each with a number, zero to ten, and each telephone has its own ten-digit number assigned to it. So, you just have to dial the number of the person you want to call and instant communication!" Alexis elaborated.

Kafei nodded, silent once more. He never failed to surprise her with his curiosity and fascination with the wonders of her 'world'.

This all had stemmed from a simple deal he had made with her the night they came back from her meeting with the Council.

It went as such: while Kafei performed his chores, Alexis would entertain him with stories of her home to help pass the time. In return, after he finished, he would either take her up to the village or out to the surrounding woods to explore.

It had seemed like a pretty straightforward and innocent agreement to her, so she readily agreed. Looking back, if she had known how persistent and nosy Kafei was, she would not have agreed.

So far, she had already been blackmailed into giving a brief sketch of her family, friends, home, and school life.

However, she was eternally grateful that he seemed to pick up pretty quickly when she was more than reluctant to discuss certain subjects and easily allowed her to side-step them, but not without a knowing look.

She hated that look.

His green eyes would bore into her, mocking what she had thought were pretty smooth diversions or changes of subject. The depth and wisdom that radiated from his eyes made him appear years older than he really was, completely unnerving her.

She became nauseous just thinking of it.

Glancing down to distract herself, she studied what she had been working on for the last hour.

It was another reason she had chosen this particular spot on the fence for just before it was a small patch of sandy dirt, absolutely perfect for scribbling in.

She had found a long skinny stick and set to work on what she had deemed her 'calendar.' Beginning from the day of father and sister's car crash, she had so far been able to date each event.

Their own car crash took place on the 27th of December. She figured then she was found by Kafei and his father the morning of the 28th.

She had developed a theory that during the car crash she must have hit her head, come to later, and in a moment of disorientation and brain trauma gotten out and wandered away from the car into the surrounding woods.

According to Kafei, she had slept three days away, meaning she had woken up on the 31st. Making possibly one of the most frustrating days of her life (and also the first time she had been allowed outside), January 5th, Council Day.

Therefore, today was the 9th, which meant she had been missing for approximately fourteen days, two whole weeks.

Helicopters, police, and volunteers must have been combing the mountains in search of her. Though, by now, hope for finding her alive must look slim.

She could just see Chloe now, running about in a panic, screaming at police and criminal investigators to hurry up and find her friend. She smiled at the thought.

Chloe would naively and obstinately refuse to believe anyone who would tell her Alexis was dead. She would forever be the optimist, thrusting upon the world her own idealistic image and accepting nothing less. At the same time, she was probably making everyone else around her miserable with her violent and passionate rollercoaster like emotions without Alexis there to keep them in check.

She could barely stomach thinking of how her dad and sister were holding up.

Knowing her dad, he would have checked himself out of the hospital the first chance he got and flown up to Colorado to join the search effort. By now, he would know every investigator by name, every search effort that was being implemented, and any and every future plan being made. He would be on top of everything and breathing down everyone's back.

She hoped her dad had had enough insight to not leave her sister behind, but knowing him, he probably had. Isa was probably in a constant state of hysterics, meaning the house would be ridiculously clean and organized by the time Alexis got home.

Whenever her sister was worried, she would hate to 'burden' other people with her problems, so instead, she would take out all her stress and concern out on even the slightest particles of dirt and dust in a fifty yard radius. This frenzied cleaning would include spontaneous organizing as well. Alexis would not be surprised to find all of the books in her room placed in alphabetical order and all the drawers and shelves in her bathroom labeled when she returned home. She knew she would rue the day she had bought her sister that label gun.

However, just the thought of her sister's frantic worrying made her stomach churn. She was tempted to slap herself for making her sister go through this kind of distress, alone and injured in the hospital with only their 'brother' to look after her. Alexis had always been her sole confidante, the only person she would 'allow' to comfort her without too much nonsense of being a 'burden'.

But this time, she was the one that was causing her pain.

She was the one who had failed her.

And that's why she refused to complain. She would take everything karma would throw at her without comment. The pain, the loneliness, the homesickness, it was all justified. She had already lucked out enough by ending up with such a wonderful and caring family like the Dotour's; it was simply fair then that she suffered a bit for doing such a careless thing and making everyone freak out.

"Boo."

Alexis let out a small yelp, as she tumbled backwards off the fence, landing heavily in a bale of hale. Pushing herself onto her elbows, she looked up to see Kafei gripping the wooden edge in an attempt to keep himself standing, body shaking with laughter.

"One of these days Fei," Alexis huffed, picking hay out of her hair, "I swear, you'll get what's coming to you…"

"Ah, come now lassy," Kafei replied, grinning widely, "don't be too angry. Yer looked loike yer were tinkin too 'ard, so oi took it upon meself ter stop yer before yer 'urt yerself too brutal."

"Oh, ha ha," Alexis barked out dryly, as she was hauled upright.

"Come on, cheer up. We're gonna head up into town now, gran'?" Kafei said, brightly, "How does dat soun'?"

Alexis huffed again, batting his hands away from her hair, where they had been picking out straw.

"It would be the very least you could do after that horribly traumatic fall," she replied, crossing her arms huffily.

"Traumatic?! It wus barely five 'ands off de groun'!" Kafei protested.

"Hmm," Alexis began, turning away to hide her smile, "I wonder what your mother would think of that distance…?"

The girl could barely maintain a straight expression at the sight of the older teen's paling face, the freckles on his face becoming even more evident.

"Come now, Alexis," he begged, "Yer know oi wus only jokin', roit? I'm 'onestly sorry. Oi would never 'av done it ter 'hurt yer."

He peered around her in an attempt to read her expression only to catch sight of the large grin she was trying so desperately to hide.

"'ey! Dat wus low!" he cried out, and Alexis collapsed in a fit of laughter.

* * *

A cuckoo cried out its greeting to the morning sun.

Link shot out of bed already dressed. He hurriedly gathered his belongings, which he had laid out in an unusually organized manner the night before.

His eagerness to leave the peaceful ranch was painfully difficult to smother, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was simply feeling the weighty pressure of his quest.

He had spent the latter part of the past day assisting Malon, as if he were a regular farm boy. He shoveled hay, milked cows, fed horses, cleaned stalls, and everything else Malon could find for him. It had been ridiculously normal and uneventful. It was as if the ruined castle, the evil King of Darkness, the missing princess, all of it had no place here in this tiny slice of peace. He expected himself to be overjoyed at this chance to forget it all, yet, lying awake last night in bed, his bones tingled with an odd giddy anticipation, his muscles tensed, his limbs twitched with unspent energy. He knew these were more than simply symptoms of deep subconscious devotion to his quest. Part of him enjoyed it, thrived upon it, the adventure, the heroics, the battling of evil, all of it. He felt as if he had been made for nothing else.

Yet, the idea of that being true sickened him. For when he would triumph, when the evil was finally defeated and Hyrule restored to its previous beauty, what would he do then? What could he do then? Retreat back to his peaceful life in the forest with the Koriki, with his friends? The notion made his stomach churn sickeningly.

This train of thought always ended with him drifting down a dangerous path of 'what ifs'. Suppose he didn't exactly _kill _Ganon…

It was thoughts such as that, which led him to tear out of bed before dawn, dress, and shine and polish all of his weapons, and take inventory of all his supplies down to the last Deku seed.

And now, he was running from the same thoughts once again, as he prepared to rush out towards the gates, in order to catch this _Mr. Ingo_ the second he arrived. The sooner he got back to saving Hyrule and keeping himself occupied, the better. Too much thinking was proving dangerous to his sanity.

Throwing the door opened, Link was forced to come to a screeching halt.

"Guess what!"

Link blinked down dumbly at the small girl grinning up at him.

"I'm allowed out of bed today!" she cheered.

He still hadn't quite processed how she could possibly be up at such an hour. The sun had hardly peeked above the horizon, and here she was fully dressed and screaming outside his door.

"Which means I get to explore the ranch!" she cried, clapping her hands together.

His eyebrows shot up. Goddesses, it was still dark out, and here she was ready to go _exploring?! _The cows weren't even awake at that hour, and if it hadn't been for his horrible night, neither would he!

He glanced down at her tapping foot and obvious impatience. "Well?"

"Huh?" Link sent her a puzzled look.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, "You don't think I'm going to do it by myself, do you?" She grabbed hold of his arm and began tugging him down the stairs. "Come on, dream boy! We have a lot to see before I wake up!"

"Wait-what?"

* * *

The two teens ambled slowly along one of the dirt paths of the small village.

That morning Fei's mother had handed him a list of items, which she _demanded _to have before noon. So, instead of suffering through the torture of having to run errands all alone, he had dragged Alexis out of bed to entertain him.

The fact that she took forever to get anywhere with her crutch, which ensured that he would not manage to get home before noon, allowing him to skive out on his morning chores, was simply an added bonus.

However, despite all his calculations, they had somehow managed to make it to the bakery, butchery, and the house of his ma's friend Uli without it being remotely close to noon.

"De only thing we 'av left ter pick up is some cheese, which is on de other side av de village." Kafei said, studying the small piece of paper in his hands. "But, even den we shud still 'av sum time before ma' really needs these things. 'ave any ideas of what yer want ter do?"

Alexis shrugged, not really paying attention.

"Dat's not an answer," Kafei mockingly scolded her.

Again, the girl gave a little shrug of acknowledgement.

Kafei sent her a worried glance. She got like this sometimes, very reclusive and quiet, lost in her own thoughts. At first, it had appeared random, but lately he had found a pattern in these moments.

Just yesterday, she had been thrown into this sort of mood for over an hour after the most innocent of conversations. He had been working in the fields, finishing up his chores, when he had heard her approaching.

She had spent the last hour or so helping his mother prepare dinner, which turned out to be quite the spectacle, so he heard, considering that Alexis seemed to have no cooking experience whatsoever.

She would get really touchy, though, whenever he teased her about it, frostily brushing off his comments with a simple, "No one ever taught me."

That was another thing to add the growing list of mysteries that made up Alexis.

Anyway, he remembered looking up as she approached, grinning perfectly innocently up at her.

"Hey, Kafei, what's up?" she said.

"Umm, de sky?" he replied, sending her a confused look.

From the way her face contorted, he got the distinct impression that that was not the correct answer. For just a moment she wore an expression of deep betrayal; he had failed her somehow.

He barely got three words out of her from then until dinner. She completely regressed into one of those moods, completely indifferent to the outside world.

Every time this happened, he could not help but feel distressed. Nothing he ever did seemed to work. Jokes were shrugged off or completely ignored. Any inquiries into what was the matter were blow off with an absentminded, "Nothing, of course." He was forced to simply wait until she decided to return herself.

Because of this, he had been extremely careful to avoid any 'danger' topics. All discussion of her world was limited to talk of its fascinating technology and inventions. Any mentioning of family or friends either led to a remarkably vague description, which he had already heard four times, or to a recluse.

This time he was not positive what had caused this 'episode', as he called them, though he was vaguely suspicious that it had something to do with meeting Uli's daughters.

The two young girls, merely eight winters old, were identical twins, yet, the pair could not have been more opposite.

That was clear after just spending a dozen minutes in their presence, even to Alexis, a complete stranger.

She had told him days ago in one of their rare talks of her family of her own twin, though Alexis had emphasized the fact that they were 'fraternal,' which meant they did not look the same.

Her name was Isabella, another foreign name he added to his list, and she was apparently the exact opposite of Alexis in every way imaginable.

Despite their differences, the girl's absolute adoration and love for her sister was blatantly obvious in her description of her. She had never known a more loving, patient, and self-sacrificing person in her entire life.

However, she also admitted to the fact that these traits caused Isa to be horribly naïve and innocent, forcing Alexis to have to constantly bail her twin out of all kinds of situations.

He could only assume that Uli's daughters had caused Alexis to be reminded of her own sister and family.

"Well now," Kafei began, tossing an arm over Alexis' shoulder, "how boyt after we pick up dat cheese, oi can take yer out an' show yer de best view in de entire valley? How does dat soun'?"

Alexis, shaken out of her thoughts, looked up at him slightly put off.

"That's not going to require climbing any of those mountains, is it?" she asked, "'Cause I would prefer not to be skinned alive by your mother in this lifetime."

Kafei grinned smugly to himself at his success.

"Yer'll jist 'av ter wait and see, won't yer?" he said, winking. "An' oi promise me ma will be none de wiser."

"For some reason, I really doubt that," she remarked, dryly.

"Yer've 'urt me, Alexis!" he exclaimed, holding up a hand to his heart. "When 'av oi ever lead yer astray?"

Alexis raised a skeptical brow at his antics.

"Well," Fei grinned cheekily, "all dohs times were worth it, though, roit?"

Alexis rolled her eyes and walked ahead.

" 'ey! Yer know I'm right," he taunted, running to catch up with her. "You jist don't want ter admit ter de fact dat yer actually enj-"

Kafei was cut off as Alexis shushed him sharply. Her forehead creased in concentration.

"What? What is-" She placed a hand over his mouth.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered, breathless.

Kafei was completely lost.

"…That song…" she continued.

He furrowed his brows. What in the name of all the goddesses was she going on about?

Suddenly, the hand was gone from his mouth, and the wooden crutch was shoved roughly into his arms. Completely mystified, he glanced up and barely caught sight of Alexis' figure whipping around the corner.

He stood stunned in the middle of the street for a good moment or two before regaining his wits and chasing after the blonde.

After a few twists and turns, he found her kneeling on the ground before the village green.

Her mouth and eyes were wide open in shock. Emotions flashing across her features, she struggled, seemingly at war on whether to cry or scream. It was as if her entire world had either shattered or had suddenly become whole again.

Bewildered, he followed her line of vision to a small group of children playing on the grassy center of the village.

* * *

**Clickey the button and review please! Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated!**


	6. Breathe In, Breathe Out

**I'm sorry for not having updated in a while. Been busy with college apps. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

_"Do not judge from mere appearances; for the lift laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy. The bosom can ache beneath diamond brooches; and many a blithe heart dances under coarse wool."_

_-Edwin H. Chapin_

Breathe In, Breathe Out

_

* * *

  
_

"Chloe, what are you doing? Malon called us in for dinner ages ago!" Link shouted out into the pen from his place on the fence.

He could barely make out in the quickly fading light of the setting sun the tiny figure of the girl, who continued to ignore his calls.

"No, not yet! And be quiet!" she hissed.

Link watched quizzically as her dark silhouette lowered itself to the ground. It began to creep awkwardly towards a small group of horses in a manner he could only guess was meant to be stealthy, though between the flailing limbs and curses, it proved anything but.

He opened his mouth again to ask what the odd girl what she could possibly be trying to accomplish, when he was cut off by a high-pitched battle cry.

"HA!"

She launched her body into the air with arms outstretched. All the horses in the area startled at her cry and quickly dashed to the polar opposite end of the pen. However, one light chestnut brown horse, the girl's projected target, simply darted out of the girl's reach before calmly returning to picking at the grass.

Link rushed over to the small dust cloud, which hid the fallen body of the crazy girl. A long train of curses caused him to slow his pace. If she was well enough to be cursing every living thing and its mother, she was definitely not suffering from any life-threatening injuries.

Though, he marveled at the language she was using. Were all young Hylian girls as knowledgeable as she in the ways of cursing? Was it acceptable?

"Chloe?" he called out, uneasily.

He saw her silhouette sit up and dust itself off without paying him any notice.

"Stupid horse, won't even let me freakin' pet it…" she mumbled angrily. She fixed her glare on the arrogant and gloating horse, which remained just a few feet away from her, mockingly eating grass. "Well, I'll show it! I'm not going to be upped by some stupid farm animal."

The horse responded by angrily blowing air out its nostrils and stomping the ground with its forelegs.

"Bring it, horse! I can take your ass any day!" she shouted. Shaking its head, the horse let out a huff of air, which sounded suspiciously like a snort.

"You won't be laughing when I own your ass, bucko!"

Link was baffled. Was she having an argument with a horse? Malon was right; he really shouldn't have left her by herself. He had figured she could not get into too much trouble 'petting' the horses, while he spoke to Malon about arrangements for tomorrow, but clearly he had been proven wrong.

He felt a sharp tug on his arm. His eyes glanced down only to see round, watery dark green eyes staring up at him.

"Hey, um…the mean horsie won't let me pet it!" she babbled, lips set into a pout. "I mean, I don't want to hurt it or anything! I just want to pet it! Is that so wrong?"

This sounded oddly familiar.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Link snapped, still irritated after his conversation with Malon.

Two large green eyes blinked dumbly up at him, all traces of tears gone. Her head cocked to the side, while her unflinching gaze made him want to squirm. She looked like a child who had just discovered a new toy.

Suddenly, Link found himself being roughly shoved towards the lone horse.

"You can negotiate!" the small girl cheered from somewhere behind him.

The horse turned at his changed proximity and stared him down. He gulped.

"It looks like it wants to eat me…" he mumbled.

"Great! It likes you already! Go get 'em tiger!" she called.

He watched the horse pick at the grass, eyeing him out of the corner of its eyes.

"No, I don't think so."

"C'mon, Mr. Hero-man! It's just a horse! What could it possible do against your obvious awesomeness?" she said, with honeyed sweetness.

Link sent her a dry stare, but began easing himself forward nonetheless. The animal continued chewing on some grass seemingly unaware to his changing distance, yet Link could see both of its ears were alert and swiveled in his direction.

He continued until his hand was inches from the horse's neck, just a little more and he would touch her. Just a bit more-

"Link! Chloe!" Malon's shout startled the horse into motion. "Supper's been ready for awhile now!"

He let out a breath he had not even realized he had been holding, letting his hand fall limply to his side, as the horse trotted over to the far away fence.

"It's most likely cold by now!"

"What? Why didn't you tell me there was food?!" Chloe demanded, all thoughts of horses completely gone. "How could that have possible slipped your mind?"

She let her glare linger for a moment on the still recovering blonde before racing off after Malon, leaving Link alone in the field staring after the chestnut mare.

* * *

She refused to look at him.

He sat there simply _basking _in the attention Mrs. Dotour was lathering upon him. It made her sick, physically _sick_, to watch his complete ignorance to the fact that he had singlehandedly destroyed everything she had come to believe in. She knew that Mrs. Dotour was only attempting to make up for her own obvious aversion to the boy, who had clung onto her desperately, non-stop since this afternoon, oblivious to her mounting distress.

And here they sat in the warm kitchen of the Dotours, his hand clutching tightly onto her own limp one, despite his complete absorption in his enthusiastic recap of his adventures with the village children. The environment was one Alexis had previously enjoyed but it seemed he had poisoned it for her as well. Mind whirling and stomach sickened, she couldn't stand it a second longer.

She stood abruptly, ripping her hand out of the boy's grasp and knocking her stool to the ground. "Excuse me, I need to get some fresh air," she voiced tensely.

She fled to the front door as quick as her leg would allow.

"I'll come too!" She cringed at the proclamation, hearing the soft patter of footsteps trail behind her.

Her knuckles turned white, clenched tightly around the door handle; she would not allow herself to turn. "Um, how 'bout you stay behind for this one, Cameron?" She had to use all of her willpower to keep herself civil.

"You still 'ave yet to finish tellin' me that tale of yers, Cameron. Oi want to 'ear 'ow it ends." Mrs. Dotour intervened, turning to the boy with a reassuring smile, but not before sending a concerned glance at Alexis' trembling figure.

"Okay…"

Alexis could just imagine the hurt look on Cameron's face, his reluctance and then childish resignation as he turned back to Mrs. Dotour. But, at that moment, she was completely incapable of caring.

In one beat, she had ripped open the door and launched herself out of it with as much dignity as she could muster in her current state. She took off towards the field at a sprint. Okay, so it was more like a really retarded hop, but she nonetheless poured all of her energy into it.

Upon reaching her familiar spot on the fence, she allowed herself to collapse onto to it. She sat there for a long while simply watching her heaving breaths form little clouds of mist, which danced in front of her face in the crisp night air.

Her hands clenched onto the wooden rail and shakily hoisted herself onto it. Glancing down at the dirt, she was suddenly thankful that the skies were clear and the moon was large that night.

Before her, slightly smeared, lay the elaborate rustic calendar she had created. Her brows furrowed, as her eyes stared down at it critically.

It just simply didn't make sense! How could he have been found a week before herself? It pushed forward her time estimate by an entire week, she thought, her stomach lurching at the thought. But that would mean she had to have been stuck out in the freezing snow for at least six days, which was simply not possible. She could not have survived that long, no matter what. So, what the hell had happened?

She stood up and rubbed at the dirt with the sole of her shoe. She was going to start over from the beginning.

Dad and Isa's car crash occurred the 26th; her and Chloe's took place the night of the 27th. So, she hypothesized, that meant that Cameron had to have been found the morning of the 28th if what Mr. Dotour said was true. If Cameron had been here a week before she was picked up, then Kafei must have found her the… 4th of January. She was unconscious for three days, so she woke up the 7th then. So, that put Council Day on the 12th and today on the 17th.

She sat back and looked down satisfied at her handiwork. See, it's okay, she reassured herself, the only thing she had left to figure out is what had happened to her during the seven days of her life she couldn't account for.

She swung her hands onto her back, feeling desperately around the base of her ribs.

"What are yer doin' lassie?" a voice asked from behind her.

"Checking something…" she mumbled beginning to remove the top layer of her dress.

"Um…Alexis?" She could hear Kafei shift his weight, yet she paid no mind to his unease. She had to make sure.

She let the top half of her dress pool around her waist, leaving her in nothing but a white cotton slip laced tightly in the back. Her hands returned to their original place, feeling around. The material was still too thick too tell.

"Kafei, you can either make yourself useful or turn around," she snapped, yet the panic she felt still leaked into her words.

"What do ya' need?" His tone suddenly became serious at the waver in her voice.

"I need you to unlace me in the back," she stated, firmly.

"Did ya' hit yer head, lassie?" he replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Kafei…" she voiced, warningly.

"Fine, fine, don't get yer panties all in a knot," he replied. She felt his fingers fumbling with the knot in the back, as her own hands clung firmly to the front of the slip.

"So, out of curiosity, why am oi doin' dis, again?" he asked, loosening the binds in the back. Alexis shivered when the cold air came in contact with her skin.

"I'll tell you in a second," she voiced, tightly.

Strings loose, Kafei stepped back, "Now, wat?"

"Okay," Alexis took a deep breath, "I need you to do something a little odd…"

"More odd than yer askin' me ter undress yer in de middle of a field?" he cut in, cheekily.

The glare she sent over her shoulder dowsed his grin.

"Put your hands on my hips," she commanded. After a pause, she felt his warm hands hover lightly over her hips.

"No, no, not like that. You need to wrap your hand around so your thumbs are on my back," she corrected. She could feel him step a little closer and shift his hands.

"Okay, let's see if I can remember this. Slide your thumbs up until you can feel the base of my ribs." His hands slid carefully upward.

"There?"

"Yeah, okay, I need you to see if you can feel any scars in that area, and _only_ that area," she added warningly.

"T'be sure," he responded with a grin. His hands slipped under the white slip and drifted gently across the middle of her back. The contrast between his warm hands and her icy skin caused goose bumps to spread over her skin. If she hadn't been so worried, she would have smacked the grin right off of Kafei's face.

Time passed slowly as she waited anxiously, knuckles white as they supported the front of her dress.

"Oi don't feel anythin', lassy," he voiced, softly, after what felt like hours to Alexis. She let out a large breath, one she hadn't even realized she had been holding. She slumped back against Kafei in relief.

"I still have my kidneys."

* * *

He was officially not happy.

Supper had not been so bad. The food had somehow remained warm, and Chloe had not managed to speak much between the mouthfuls of food she had shoveled in. So, all in all, it had been a pleasant meal.

However, Malon had asked him if he could help clean up, which he soon learned was code for 'continue earlier conversation'. It had been effective, for at the world 'clean', Chloe had dashed up the stairs, shouting something about being suddenly exhausted.

"_Link, I really am sorry about Mr. Ingo not showing up today. I know you've been in a hurry to leave…" Malon said for what seemed like the hundredth time._

_Her earnestness made it impossible for Link to become irritated with the set back. _

"_It's fine, really. One more day of relaxation won't make a difference" he countered, while handing over a wet dish. _

"_You consider this relaxation? I would hate to see what you do for living." _

_Link forced himself to laugh along with her. _

"_I hope you know I would lend you a horse if I was able. It would practically cut the time to Kakariko Village in half," she blurted out. "But Mr. Ingo-" _

"_I said it was fine, Malon. My legs could use the exercise" he cut her off, a tone of finality in his voice. _

"_Well then, at least let me make it up to you," she declared, putting down a plate and picking up a lantern. "Follow me." _

_Link followed after her curiously, as she stepped outside and into the dark barn. She slipped past the stalls of cows and horses to the very back of the structure, where she pried open a large wooden door, previously invisible to Link's eyes. She gestured for him to enter. _

_He found himself in a dusty storage room. Its shelves lined to the brim full of bottles and various other supplies. _

"_All your supplies will be half off! How does that sound?" she cried, pleased with herself. " Fair?" _

_Link simply nodded his head, overwhelmed, as he began eagerly reaching for all different kinds of bottles. _

_By the time he was finished exploring and paying for all of his items, the sky had darkened from a light purple to a dark blue-black. _

_But just before Link disappeared back into the main house, Malon stopped him. "I have…one last favor to ask of you," she spoke softly, eyes glued to the ground. _

"_Uh, sure, anything," Link responded, cheerfully, still on a high from the amazing deals he had just received._

"_Well, its regarding Chloe…" she trailed off, seemingly at a loss of words on how to continue. _

"_Yes…" Link voiced, suddenly suspicious. _

_Malon took a deep breath to gather herself together, "I want to ask you to take Chloe with you when you travel to Kakariko Village." _

"_No," Link deadpanned and turned to march into the house. _

"_Wait!" Malon begged, "just hear me out. With her memory loss, the journey to Kakariko Village with its familiar sites and such would be ideal to perhaps trigger her memory. We don't get many visitors here on the ranch, and I'm afraid that Mr. Ingo would not take kindly to having another mouth to feed, especially someone so unwilling to work." She blushed a little at her own bluntness. "She cannot remain here. Besides, since the destruction of Castle Town, Kakariko Village has taken on the role as the commercial center of Hyrule. Someone is bound to recognize her there, I'm sure of it!" Malon clapped her hands together. _

_At Link's torn appearance, Malon bowed her head and began begging, her voice watery. "Please, Link! Please, do this for the poor girl! Think of how worried her poor family must be, probably believing her to be dead!" Malon shoulders began shaking. "Please, help her!" _

"_Fine, I'll do it!" Link cried, desperate to stop her tears. "Just calm down, please." _

_With a few sniffles and dabs of her hankerchief at her cheeks, Malon rose with a bright smile. "Thank you so much Link! You are truly a hero to this poor girl!" _

Her and the rest of Hyrule, Link thought sardonically, while turning over and burying his head under his scratchy pillow.

The following day would be less than enjoyable.

* * *

Alexis awoke that morning, surprised to see light flickering in through the small window. She had slept through the entire night? She felt a rush of happiness. It must have been the first time in her entire stay with the Dotour's that she had not been awake to watch the first rays of light kiss the windowpane.

However, her wonderment was short lived, as she nearly panicked when she felt a warm _something_ cuddle into her back. She lifted the covers to find a mess of white blonde hair burrowed into her shoulder blades.

She smiled softly at the cuteness of the scene, but the expression was quickly wiped away, as the weight of reality came crashing down upon her.

She gently slid out of the warm bed, while quickly placing a pillow in her previous position. She grinned smugly to herself, as Cameron cuddled into the pillow obliviously.

Tiptoeing, she threw on a random itchy dress and darted out of the room. She tried to smother all feelings of anger towards the boy; it wasn't his fault he had stolen her only sanctuary as well.

Her nose immediately caught the scent of Mrs. Dotour's delicious cooking. She followed it to the kitchen to find Kafei at the table balanced precariously on a small stool and already stuffing his face.

"Bought time you got up," he greeted, through his meal.

She ignored him, too busy taking in the sight of the room.

"Kafei, why are there over twenty pounds of cheese decorating the kitchen?"

"Huh?" he followed her gaze, "Oh, yes, about that…" He motioned with his spoon for her to take a seat.

She rolled her eyes at his manners, before plopping down in the stool across from him and waiting for him to finish swallowing.

"Well," he took a swing of milk, "You know how that little lad of yours appeared out of nowhere, and no one even raised a fuss?"

She nodded, suspiciously.

"You've seen how he looks, right? He could easily pass as one of the villagers, and he did. When he appeared everyone believed him to be the child of Mako, who's known by everyone to get around a bit, if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, "continue."

He leaned back, balancing on the back legs of the stool. "You're no fun today." He pouted with his arm crossed.

"Oh, Kafei! You're so cruel to leave me hanging like that! I simply cannot have peace of mind until you finish your entrancing tale!" she begged with false desperation, knowing the act would encourage him enough to get to finish.

He sent her a look. "That only worked the first time lassie."

Alexis snorted. "You mean like first ten times?"

This time he rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he exclaimed, redirecting the subject, "we left off with everyone thinking your little lad was the bastard child of Mako. Cameron was taken in by one of the elders, as an act of kindness to Mako's wife. They figured it would be doubly traumatic for the poor woman to have to take care of the sign of her husband's infidelity!"

Alexis couldn't help but laugh at Kafei's obvious over dramatization and accompanying animated hand gestures. The boy was a born story teller.

"Even so, these past weeks Mako has been living in 'hot water' so to speak with the entire village, that is until you finally claimed the lad," he finished with a wide grin.

She nodded in understanding. "Wait, what does that have to do with the mass quantities of cheese in the kitchen?"

"Mako is the village cheese maker."

"Oh," Alexis replied, "so all of this-?"

"-is his personal thank you," Kafei cut in, smirking. "If you haven't noticed, your name is carved into all of them."

His smirk grew at her reddening cheeks.

She figured the pressure must have been gotten to her for she began laughing and wasn't able to stop until tears were pouring down her cheeks. She let everything out in that laugh, all of her stress, all of her worries. The tears were not those of just happiness.

Still letting out some chuckles, she finally was able to control herself enough to open her eyes and look up at Kafei. Goosebumps spread all over her skin. He was giving her that look again. The one in which he saw past everything, her walls, her masks, all of her defenses she hid behind. With that one look he was able make her feel naked and exposed, all the alarms in her head screaming for her to run, to hide.

She fought to keep the distress off of her face, covering it with a wide grin.

"Well, if it's my cheese, I guess it wouldn't be too wrong of me to take some, huh?" she said lightly, while standing and turning her back to Kafei.

Her body remained tense, as she could still feel his electric green eyes burning holes into her.

"Ah, dearie! Good to see you awake!" Mrs. Dotour bustled into the kitchen. "I'm glad to see you helped yourself to some of your cheese!" If the woman noticed the previous tension of the room, she certainly did not show it.

"What was that ridiculous man thinking sending all of this here? How on earth are we supposed to ever be able to eat this all at once?" she exclaimed, a flurry of movement about the kitchen.

Alexis quickly sat back down to avoid getting in the way of the active woman. She let out a relieved sigh to find Kafei distracted by his mother.

She avoided his gaze the rest of the morning.

* * *

The last couple of hours had been spent walking on _foot_ to Karkariko Village.

At the pace they were traveling, Link estimated that they would barely reach it before nightfall.

The trip had been spent in relative silence that was until after their small rest at noon, where Chloe's silent mood seemed to take a turn for the worse. The bubbly girl disappeared and in her place stood an irritated and accusatory fiend.

"What exactly are you wearing?" she exclaimed, shattering the silence.

Link jumped, startled, before glancing down self consciously at his clothes.

"Who wears that sort of stuff anymore? Are you some sort of obsessed Lord of the Rings role-player or something?

"Um, I do not believe so…" Link stuttered uncertainly, sending a glance at Navi.

"Perhaps the fashion has changed in the past seven years." Navi suggested.

Link nodded. That made sense.

"How old are you?" she blurted out, breaking the barely established quiet.

"Excuse me?" Link stammered, taken by surprise.

"As in your age?" she asked dryly, looking at him as if he were slow.

"Oh, uh, um, seventeen winters I suppose," He replied, looking to Navi for affirmation.

"You suppose? Don't normal people keep track of that sort of thing?" she said flatly, peering at him suspiciously.

"I-its complicated." Link responded defensively. He suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. Rauru had said he had been asleep seven years, right?

"Mhm, sure it is," she commented skeptically, walking ahead.

Link let out a breath of relief.

He began to follow when suddenly she swirled around, green eyes flashing. He had to stumble backwards to avoid slamming into her.

"Why do you always glance at that little ball of light every time I ask you something? What is it, like your Magic 8 Ball or something?" she inquired.

"W-what? Oh, you mean Navi?" he clarified.

"It has a name?" she asked incredulously.

"Of course it does. All fairies do," Link replied, an odd sense of déjà vu coming upon him.

"Fairies, huh?" she asked in disbelief, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, fairies. Navi is my fairy," he countered, crossing his arms defensively.

"Fairies," Chloe snorted, shaking her head.

What next? Talking rocks? This has got to be the crappiest reality show ever! Fox or NBC better be making a lot of fucking money from her pain, and she sure as hell better be receiving a large slice of it. And full compensation for medical costs. Her head ached like high hell and she swore the bottom of her foot had become one solid blister.

A couple hours back, Chloe concluded that this entire thing was some new reality show. Her sister more than likely volunteered her for it. She had been anticipating her sister getting revenge sooner or later for filling her hair dyer with baby powder right before her date with that guy she liked (Josh? Jake? Jared?), but c'mon, wasn't this just a bit extreme?

She had never actually caused her _physical_ pain. Wait, she took that back. There was that one time- but that didn't excuse this!

She seethed at the image of her older sister reclining on their couch, crunching on popcorn and enjoying every second of her sister's suffering.

Her eyes darted around, searching for the hidden cameras. She hadn't managed to quite work out where they would be able to hide them, they were in the middle of an extensive field, but where there's a will, there's a way. And when it comes to higher viewer ratings, suddenly there are a hell of a lot more ways.

And that fairy thing! She had been trying to figure that one out for hours. At first she hypothesized that it was some fancy trick with mirrors or something, but she soon ruled that out.

Her final conclusion was that it was like a remote control plane or something. That's why it had to 'disappear' under his hat all the time. It had to recharge its batteries at some point. It was probably the way the crazy cos-player, Leek or something, (she decided not to bother to remember his name because it was fake probably anyway), stayed in touch with the director and the rest of the crew.

Well, she would show them! She would show them all!

She always knew that she could totally own all those twits on Survivor.

* * *

**Sorry the update was so late. Review please! Any feedback is appreciated.**


	7. All the Small Things

**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy and REVIEW! **

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"_There is in life the tragedy of ignorance and selfishness. They force man to take the wrong road; and suffer calamity."_

_-Atharva Veda_

All the Small Things

* * *

Okay, so she threw out the whole 'reality show' theory a couple hours back. No matter how small of a budget, no production could actually _hire_ this bad of an actor, or, more important, waste money filming such a _boring _show.

"We spent the entire day walking on _foot_ for _this_!?" Chloe cried.

They had apparently 'arrived' at their destination. At least that's what dream boy had said. As far as she could tell, they simply stood at the very bottom of a freakin' giant cliff.

This was ridiculous.

She had to admit, though, at least it was a mildly aesthetically pleasing hunk of rock.

The colossal cliffs, every shade of brown and red, towered up above the pair. The way the light bounced over its surface made the rock appear to ripple and swell, reminding Chloe of a dancing flame.

She followed the structure up into the sky, straining her neck.

Okay, so it was more than just aesthetically pleasing, it was downright breathtaking.

She silently praised her imagination for creating such a beautiful sight.

That was until she saw what was cutting into the sky in the distance.

The landscape was suddenly far more sinister.

What she concluded to be an active volcano jutted over the naively beautiful cliffs. Fiery black clouds hung threateningly about its summit, as spits of lava spewed forth from its crater at random.

Screw her flippin' imagination. There was no way in hell she was going to get any closer to that thing.

She had seen the movie _Volcano _enough times to have decided that she would never, _ever _live within a three hundred mile radius of a volcano, active or not. Forget willfully approaching a practically erupting one.

She was about to voice her unswayable resolution when she noticed the missing presence of her little medieval escort. Her eyes darted about frantically, searching for his familiar green hat.

Finally catching sight of the freaky little ball of light that followed him everywhere, she darted around a section of the cliff to find herself standing before a massive staircase carved directly into the rock.

Her mouth dropped open.

"Come on! Kakariko Village is just at the top!" the boy called down to her from about a third of the way up.

He had to be freakin' joking.

Like hell she was climbing up all those stairs!

Surely, there was an elevator around here somewhere. What would all the handicapped and wheelchair-ridden people do? More importantly, what about all the people who are out of shape and strictly against getting all sweaty, huh? What about them?

Wait, back up!

What the hell was he thinking?!

There was like an active volcano practically on verge of erupting right _there_!

"If you think I'm going any closer to that volcano, you're out of you freakin' mind!" she shouted.

"You mean Death Mountain?" Link questioned, confused.

Chloe found herself unable to spit out a reply.

Was he joking?! What kind of sick bastard names a volcano that?!

And here's Mr. Legolas-wanna-be wanting her to climb up the damn thing!

"You have nothing to worry about, the mountain is completely harmless. That is unless you go inside it, which we won't, though maybe I should check in on the Gorons…" Link mused unaware of Chloe's mounting horror.

"Up yours man! There's no way in hell I'm getting any closer to anything that has 'death' as a part of its name!" Chloe cried.

She reasoned that as long as she stood firm everything would be fine. He couldn't leave her behind. This was _her _dream.

"Okay then," Link replied, obnoxiously cheerful. "You can just stay down there then." With that he turned and continued his way up the staircase.

Chloe's jaw dropped in indignation.

How _dare _he leave her behind!

'_Retarded little elf boy!'_ she seethed, stomping her feet.

"Oh," Link turned back to her fuming figure, "just so you know, once the sun sets, the Stalchildren tend to come out, and they tend to particularly enjoy preying on innocent, lost travelers.

You should be fine, though. Just in case, remember, if you hear a scratching noise, it's just them pushing their way out of the ground. But don't worry, as long as you keep moving, they won't be able to catch you," he paused, "probably."

With a shrug of indifference, the young man turned back to the stone stairs, a Cheshire cat smile creeping over his features.

Meanwhile, Chloe's face had drained of all color.

"W-what do you mean prey-y?" she asked, peering nervously at the sinking sun on the horizon.

A noise off to her left suddenly caught her attention. Her entire body froze in fear. As the faint scratching noise became more and more pronounced, Chloe inched her way towards the cliff.

A flying piece of dirt was all it took for her to snap.

"H-hey! Wait up, elf boy!" she cried out, as she darted up the stairs, as if the devil himself was chasing her.

A sparkling blue light followed behind her, giggling quietly.

* * *

After weathering the hottest of mornings, Kafei and Alexis had taken shelter in the barn and were found reclining lazily among the hay when Mrs. Dotour came bursting in, dragging a stumbling Cameron by the hand.

"Alexis! Kafei!"

Both teens jerked to attention. Cameron snickered at the sight of both of them covered in hay, but immediately quieted after a sharp look from Mrs. Dotour.

"Now, when into town today, some mothers brought ter my attention the fact that some of the other children are quite vexed over the fact that Cameron, 'ere, is a 'Poke-y-man' master, but for reasons beyond me 'as told the rest of them that there can only be one 'Poke-y-man' master at a time, which has sent the laddies into hysterics. So, either of yer care to enlighten me to what this means?" she ended, staring pointedly at Alexis.

" 'Poke-y-man'? I've never heard of that before." Alexis shrugged.

"You're not saying it right!" Cameron blurted out, tugging at his hand.

"Oh, " Mrs. Dotour peered down at the boy with raised eyebrows, "and just how would you say it?"

"Its 'Pok-é-mon'!"

And with that, Alexis collapsed back on the hay consumed by laughter.

" 'ey, Alexis?" Kafei muttered uneasily, tugging at one of her shoulders anxiously.

She got hold of herself long enough to follow his gaze to the face of his mother. The laughter died in her throat. Mrs. Dotour did not look amused.

"Um, right, an explanation…" Alexis began, embarrassedly. "Well, where we are from, Pokémon is a show-uh, I mean, a sort of children's story that, um, involves these creatures…"

"To get to the heart of the matter, Cameron is not 'Poke-y-man' master," Mrs. Dotour interrupted.

Her eyes flickered to Cameron's terrified face. For the briefest of moments, she gave in and was about to allow a lie slip past her lips until her gaze returned to Mrs. Dotour. Suddenly, her primary concern was immediately redirected to saving her own hide from the woman's wrath.

"Eh, no."

"So, then, Cameron 'as been lying to all of the village laddies, correct?" Mrs. Dotour pressed, voice unnervingly level. Alexis was reminded fleetingly of the saying 'the calm before the storm'.

"Eh, yeah, I guess…" She answered hesitantly, pointedly avoiding the betrayed look Cameron sent her.

"Thank you for clearin' that up Alexis," Mrs. Dotour replied sweetly, causing Kafei and Alexis to glance at each other uneasily. She turned to face Cameron.

"Now, _Cameron_, you and oi are going to take a little trip to the village tomorrow, where you _will _apologize to _each_ an' _every_ child you told this _lie_ to, along wi' their respective parents." Mrs. Dotour said in a cheery tone, though the underlying threat caused even Kafei and Alexis to wince.

"Is that clear?" Cameron nodded his head vigorously. "Gran', now, why don't yer 'elp me in the kitchen today?"

"But-"

Alexis flinched at the sharp look Mrs. Dotour sent Cameron.

"Yer were sayin' somethin', dearie?" she inquired with honeyed sweetness. The boy just shook his head mutely. "Oi thought as much. Well, we will see yer two later then. Thank you for all yer 'elp, Alexis."

Alexis gulped and nodded robotically, even though the woman already had her back to her. She truly pitied Cameron.

Both teens let out a deep breath, as the two figures disappeared out of sight.

"Jesus, I don't think I've ever been so scared," Alexis commented, completely mystified.

Kafei fell back on a stack of hay, running a hand through his fiery hair. "Oi 'ad truly forgotten just 'ow scary me ma could be when she deals laddies."

Alexis landed on her stomach next to him. "Well, at least that all makes sense now."

Kafei folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, an image of relaxation. "What does?"

"How I found Cameron."

Kafei turned abruptly to face her. "What do yer-"

"Oh, an' Kafei!"

At the sound of the voice, both teenagers froze.

"Yes, ma?" Kafei questioned, hesitantly.

"Yer best be 'round the house when oi call yer two for dinner. Oi am not in the mood to be huntin' about for yer two hooligans."

"Of course, ma." Both sat tense in silence, waiting for a reply. When it was clear they were not going to receive one, they slumped in relief onto the hay.

"An' yer used to tease me for bein' terrified of 'er." Kafei mumbled into the straw.

"Oh, one last thing."

Kafei let out a startled yelp, as he tumbled off the bale in surprise.

"Yeah, ma" he answered weakly, buried underneath a mound of prickly straw.

Mrs. Dotour sent Alexis a wink and a smug grin, before turning to bark at her son.

"Yer best not even think about coming into me house with a speck of that straw on yer person, understand?"

"Of course, ma."

Alexis fought to smother her laughter.

"Good." She and Alexis shared another humorous smile before the older woman disappeared out of the barn with a wave farewell.

"Is she gone?" Kafei groaned.

"Yeah," Alexis chuckled, as she crawled over to help the boy out of his self-inflicted tomb. "I've decided I want to be exactly like your mom when I grow up."

He looked horror-stricken. "No! Oi will not allow it!" he declared, stumbling after her, attempting to shake the straw off himself. "No other laddie should be put through such torture!"

"Like you will be around to stop me," she teased back, but froze in place when the reality of what she had said hit her.

She had never really thought about it, but she would never be able to return once she left.

She would never eat anymore of Mrs. Dotour's food nor receive any more of her 'cooking lessons'. She would leave behind her little spot on the fence, her warm room (previously a dusty storage closet), and the strange blue goats. But most importantly, she would leave Kafei behind. She would never see him again; never speak to him again, nothing. He may as well be dead.

Her eyes watered at the thought, and she felt a painful twist in her chest. Embarrassment caused her cheeks to flare red. When did she become so dependent, so attached to one person? Her anger turned inward. It's what she got for letting herself fall too deep.

An arm landed heavily on her shoulder and guided her forward.

"So, 'ow _did_ yer find Cameron?"

She looked up startled to see Kafei staring pointedly up at the sky.

She didn't deserve him.

She let out a bitter smile. "He was singing the Pokémon theme song."

He knew _the look_ would have made her run.

* * *

Man, she was _so_ freakin' _bored_.

That stupid little prick had left her here!

By herself!

With absolutely nothing to do!

She let herself fall back heavily onto one of the beds. Its old metal springs resisted her weight, jostling her body roughly.

She had been stuck in this stupid room _forever_.

After a grueling battle between her and five million stairs, (which she won only at the cost of her muscles resigning and replacing themselves with jello), she had collapsed in order to kiss the beautifully flat and stair-free ground only to have been knocked breathless.

An entire medieval-like village had been laid out before her perched on numerous terraces carved directly into the mountain's side.

Wooden and stone cottages were packed together on the many levels leaving the available paths bursting with people.

Even at that late hour, the village had been buzzing with activity, as mothers picked up last minute items for dinner and shopkeepers hurriedly packed away belongings and closed up.

Overshadowing all of the action was a massive windmill, which stood at the very summit of the village. Its massive blades had turned lazily in the wind.

Chloe had been stunned speechless.

She had not even whispered a protest as elf boy tugged her along, mouth open and eyes wide, completely mesmerized by the sights around her.

A man had darted about in front of them, lighting the lamps along the small street, which had cast an orange glow on the walls of the surrounding buildings.

A small boy had stumbled around a large well, chasing a large white chicken.

A young man had brought in some swords and shields from the display in front of what she had guessed was his father's shop.

She had not awoken from her trance until the picturesque village had suddenly disappeared behind a thick wooden door.

Before she had even been able to really take in the dark tavern with its various occupants and massive wooden bar, alit by the yellow glow of a roaring, elf boy had dragged her up a narrow, steep staircase that had been in some obscure, shady corner of the room.

She had still been in a slight daze as they had traveled down a constricted hallway lined with doors. The faded golden numbers above the doorways had glowed faintly under the dim light of the few torches.

…_3…5…7…9…11…_

The freak had come to an abrupt stop before a door with a golden thirteen above it.

She had rushed into the open room with one simple intention: _sleep._ She had ignored everything the little elf boy had said and promptly collapsed onto the nearest bed. She remembered nothing else.

Until she awoke that morning that is, in possible the most uncomfortable position of her life. Her arms had been in a tangle under her, completely numb, while one leg had dangled off the edge of the bed at an odd angle, the other throw in the opposite direction. She hadn't even bothered to take off her shoes.

Her head had been fuzzy, but she had been able to make out the sound of the door opening. She had hastily thrown herself off the bed, intending to land gracefully on her feet, but her half-asleep limbs had given out half-way, causing her collapse.

She had been persistent, though, and had somehow managed to stumble her way to the door.

With a turn of a knob, Chloe had been shoved back in, given an incredibly vague explanation about needing to find something, and then promptly left alone all before she had been able to gather her wits enough to verbalize a type of response or protest.

The sound of a lock clicking had been the last thing she had heard before the footsteps drifted away.

And that was how she had ended up trapped in this dinky little room for _hours._ No really, she could tell because through the dinky, dusty window, she could make out the sun dipping into the horizon.

However, her train of thought was interrupted, as the old wooden door swung open to reveal aforementioned prick. He barely even graced her with a glance before taking off his sword and shield and collapsing on the bed opposite her own.

Even through her righteous anger, she could not help but notice that he looked unusually morose.

As if to confirm her thoughts, the boy let out a large sigh and seemed to sink even further into the rusty bed.

"So I'm gonna guess and say you didn't find what you were looking for?" Chloe pointed out, bluntly.

Link's head jerked up, startled, by either her presence or her question, she couldn't decide.

"No." he responded flatly, letting his head flop back down.

An awkward silence fell over the room, awkward from Chloe's perspective anyway. Actually, she mused, any silence really felt awkward to her. She, therefore, made it her self-appointed duty to end all silences everywhere, including this one.

"I'm hungry," she stated, expectantly.

Again, Link seemed mildly startled at the sound of her voice, peering over at her confusedly.

"Hun-gry," she sounded out slowly, "as in, I need food, like, now. Preferably steak, I've been craving that all day."

Link blinked at her.

Apparently processing the English language had become a particularly difficult task for the blonde.

Chloe shifted.

"Okay…" she began, looking at him as if he were retarded. "So that means we actually have to get up, go somewhere, and buy some food!" She cried with sarcastic enthusiasm.

After what seemed like hours of blank staring, his hat-covered head bobbed, and he hoisted himself off of the bed and was out the door before Chloe was able to squeeze in another word.

Her mouth dropped open.

How _does_ he do_ that_?!

Stupid little _prick _left her here _again_!

What an _asshole_…

She wished her imagination would create nicer people.

* * *

"Kafei, why don't yer take Cameron outside for a bit, 'e's been working quite hard and deserves a bit of fresh air," Mrs. Dotour asked nonchalantly from her position in front at aof a pot of boiling stew.

"Eh, 'course ma'" Kafei replied, standing from his seat at the large wooden table, but not before sending a quizzical look at his mother's back. "Come on, laddie, let's go."

Alexis stood up to join them, but was stopped at the sound of Mrs. Dotour's voice. "Stay just a minute dearie, would yer? Oi think oi might need a bit of help with this stew."

Alexis and Kafei traded puzzled looks. After a beat of silence, Kafei shrugged helplessly and guided Cameron out the door, as Alexis eased herself back onto her stool, an intense feeling of foreboding washing over her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and twiddled her hands mindlessly. She sent a betrayed glare at the spot where the two boys had vanished. They had left her with the wolf.

"So, dearie," Alexis jumped and winced as her knee jarred the entire table, "Oi've been thinkin' we need to have a little chat before yer leave tomorrow."

"Eh, sure…" she replied, wearily watching the woman, who had suddenly materialized across from her.

"Calm down, dearie!" the woman let out a hearty laugh, "Oi had hoped by now that yer would have realized oi am not goin' to eat yer," she winked.

Alexis let out her own nervous chuckle, sheepish that Mrs. Dotour had seen through her nerves so easily.

Abruptly, Mrs. Dotour's expression became startlingly serious. "Oi am goin' to say this as straightforward as possible dearie, and oi hope yer won't resent me for it."

Completely thrown off balance, Alexis stared at the woman speechless. The older woman paused to let the words sink in.

"Yer need to grow up," she deadpanned.

"Excuse me?!" Alexis reacted violently, jumping to her feet and throwing her stool to the floor. What the hell was she talking about? She was incredibly mature for her age!

Mrs. Dotour sighed, "Sit down, Alexis."

Glaring, the teenager righted her stool and did as she was told.

"Come tomorrow, Cameron is yer complete responsibility," she said gravely.

"I already knew that," Alexis mumbled, begrudgingly.

"Yes, but oi don't think you quite understand," Mrs. Dotour snapped back. "When yer reach Kakariko Village, yer will know no one and yer will have no one to rely on. The laddie will come to yer for everythin'. Yer will become his everythin'. Should 'e fall ill, yer will be stayin' up with 'im into the wee hours of the morning. Should 'e step out of line, yer will be the one who will have to deal out a punishment. Should 'e become homesick, yer will have to comfort him. There will be no one else. Yer will have no one to fall back on and no one to go to for advice. Yer will be alone in yer burden."

Alexis shook her head, "Look, I am aware of the responsibilities that come with Cameron, but thanks for the update."

Mrs. Dotour watched her with sad green eyes, "No, oi am positive yer don't, but it's no matter. It is clear me words will not be understood until the warnin' will 'ave become useless."

Alexis felt her bristling anger soften at the woman's pitiful gaze. She put aside her wounded pride in order to reach out and comfortingly pat Mrs. Dotour's hand. "Don't worry about me, Mrs. D. I will be fine. I can handle a little boy and a bit of responsibility and pressure; I'm made of tougher stuff than that. But thank you for the advice; I really do appreciate it."

With a final pat and a reassuring smile, Alexis stood and disappeared out the door.

"No, yer most definitely do not," Mrs. Dotour stared dejectedly at the closed door, her worn and exhausted countenance making her appear decades older. She let out a long sigh, cupping her cheek with her palm as the heavy atmosphere in the room dissipated. "But it is out of my control. Goddesses help her."

* * *

Chloe had put the endless minutes to good use this time.

While waiting aimlessly for hat-boy to return, she had carefully planned out an entire monologue she would force upon him the second he returned.

It would declare in very descriptive and occasionally obscene terms how their relationship could no longer continue as it had.

This whole leaving-her-trapped-in-the-tiny-room-while-he-got-to-go-galavat-about-the-cool-medieval-village was simply not going to fly anymore.

She nodded resolutely up at the ceiling from her reclined position on the bed as she worked through its opening lines.

However, when the she heard the jingling of keys at the door, she immediately leapt to her feet and took on what she believed to be a no-bullshit-demanding-respect stance.

It was _so _on.

All her lines died in her throat at the sight of the large figure bustling through the doorway.

This woman had to be one of the strangest people she had ever seen.

Her large, voluptuous figure made her both intimidating and bawdy.

A bright magenta apron with strange patterns and symbols was tied about her waist and concealed most of her clashing blue skirt.

The lady's extremely form-fitting, hardly buttoned jacket revealed far too much skin and did nothing to hide the fact that the only thing under it was a bright yellow lacy bra type thing, which showed off a sickeningly large amount of cleavage.

Her eyes, half-lidded, were overshadowed by large eyelashes and a heavy amount of eye makeup, topped off by sharply arching eyebrows, which all together gave her a permanently flirty-stoned look.

A silver stud on her nose glittered in the dim light, as she ambled over to the far table, her dark red hair braided into cornrows and piled on top of her head swinging behind her.

It should be illegal for a middle-aged woman to dress like that.

Chloe knew if she had any food in her stomach it would have been making a reappearance right about now.

The thought of food finally called her attention to the large tray the bawdy lady carried and the plate of steaming food perched precariously on top of it.

From her position, she could make out that the plate contained some sort of slab of meat, bread, what looked like potatoes, and some miscellaneous green blob.

She could feel her mouth water at the sight.

The woman had yet to notice her, as she had continued to peer over her shoulder to talk flirtatiously to someone still in the doorway.

Chloe swore she would murder the woman if she spilled any piece of the warm food, only after she finished eating the rest, of course.

Before the tray even hit the table, the teen had already darted across the room and snatched a piece of bread, munching on it vigorously.

The woman let out a small yelp at the girl's sudden materialization, which Chloe ignored, searching for silverware.

"So, this is the girl you were telling me about," the lady observed, raising an eyebrow at the girl's ferocious inhaling of food. "A little young for you, isn't she?"

Chloe turned, food spilling out of her mouth, ready to give the whore a piece of her mind.

"Fo yu' imfomatim e m sixee eas ole!" she cried, food spraying everywhere.

"Charming child," the lady commented.

With a large gulp, Chloe finally swallowed.

"I'm not a child, hag! I just said I was sixteen!" she shouted.

"Of course," the older woman replied, skeptically.

"I'm not lying! Just because I'm 5'3 doesn't make me twelve! God!" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Fiery little thing, aren't you," the woman cooed mockingly, a scrutinizing eye looking Chloe up and down. "Anyway, I've got to be getting back to my customers."

Dismissing Chloe, she turned and headed out the door, moving past elf-boy, but only after pausing to place a hand on his cheek.

"If you need anything honey, you know where to find me," she said smoothly before disappearing down the hallway.

Chloe exploded.

"What a disgusting woman!" she declared, shoveling food into her mouth, "Can you believe her?! Calling me a child!? Hmph!"

Hat-boy hurriedly closed the door behind him.

"Like she even has the right to be criticizing anyone! Can you say mid-life crisis?" she rambled on, "Her boobs were practically popping out! And she wants to criticize _me_ on _my_ appearance! Stupid, desperate cougar!"

Chloe was oblivious to Link's increasingly red face.

"I mean, my boobs are freakin' C's, and I don't feel the need to go around flaunting and throwing them in everyone's face just to show off!" she cried, stuffing more bread into her mouth, "How could she even think I was a kid?! What kind of twelve-year-old girl is this fully developed?! Freakin' bawdy hag!"

The young man cleared his throat loudly, cheeks flaming.

"What?!" she rounded on him, huffing.

"That, um, 'hag' was the owner of this inn. Her name is Telma," he explained, attempting to sound stern, but failing, as he refused to meet her gaze.

"Oh," she replied, stupidly.

He nodded his head, still looking off to the side.

"Oops?"

* * *

**Hey guys, hope y'all enjoyed that. I'm trying desperately to get this story moving a little faster. I easily have the next seven chapters in outline form, but its really just gotten to be a matter of me having enough time to do so. So, I hope you all can be patient with me. **

**Click the button and review please!**


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